Ilkley pay the penalty against Otley Town

Ilkley AFC.................2

A poor second-half performance by Ilkley allowed Otley to gain three points after the visitors had the better of first-half exchanges.

With both teams seeing little action over the past four weeks and on a boggy pitch, the quality of football was not high and neither side played with any authority in the opening 20 minutes.

During this period, Ilkley had the majority of possession but Otley had the better chances to open the scoring. On three occasions, long clearances from defence caught the Ilkley defenders ball watching and only alert goalkeeping by Lake and hesitant finishing kept the scores level.

Ilkley began to make headway on the right with Giles, Braithwaite and Hannaford fashioning a series of crosses and corners.

Resolute defending repelled these attacking threats before combination play involving Horne, Giles and Wilson saw the latter turn inside the Otley penalty area and

squeeze a low shot across the home 'keeper and into the far corner of the net.

The Ilkley lead was short-lived, for in the next minute, slack defensive play caused a scramble in the goalmouth and the loose ball was drilled past Lake by Graeme Hutchinson from ten yards for the Otley equaliser.

Back to square one for both teams who were struggling to produce any consistency in developing passing moves, though Otley players competed with more determination.

With Rishworth, Sayers and Bloom finding it difficult to make an impact on the game, it was the increasing influence of Crowther that became a prominent feature of Ilkley's attacking play.

Working hard in a particularly boggy section of the pitch, he made several twisting runs deep into Otley territory before his pressure on a dallying defender enabled him to gain possession and break clear to slide the ball past the exposed Otley goalkeeper to give Ilkley a 2-1 half-time lead.

A half-time review of the game by a neutral observer would have considered Ilkley fortunate to be ahead but the team had more possession and territorial advantage than Otley, who relied on long-ball breaks towards speedy forwards.

Holding onto the lead for the first 20 minutes was the order of the day for Ilkley before pressing for another goal to clinch the game.

Sadly the game plan came apart within minutes of the re-start as dithering defensive play and Otley determination saw the home side score three goals in ten minutes through Hutchinson (who completed his hat-trick) and Boddy to tip the match on its head.

On all three occasions the goals were scored well inside the penalty-area by unmarked players with Ilkley defenders seemingly reluctant to make determined challenges.

A clearly off-side fifth goal from Hutchinson soon after finished any hopes Ilkley had of making a comeback as a re-surgent Otley side dominated play all over the field.

But then it's always easier to find energy and commitment when winning 5-2 than when chasing a losing cause.

The introduction of Cummings, Knox and Mynett and change to 3-4-3 formation for Ilkley stemmed the tide and Cummings saw a shot flash over. However, the final ignominy for Ilkley saw the Otley 'keeper Kirkpatrick score from the penalty spot in the final minute.

This was an unnecessarily disrespectful piece of gamesmanship by Otley though a thoroughly deserved victory for a team who showed more bite and commitment throughout the game.

A collectively under par performance by Ilkley players who have been showing positive signs of improvement during recent training sessions and are capable of much higher standards of passing, support and movement.

However, without the collective desire and determination to regain and keep possession of the ball, these capabilities are superfluous.

l On Saturday, Ilkley players have the best chance to test their resolve and capabilities against league leaders Kirkby Malzeard at West Holmes (kick-off 2pm).

Players meet at the cricket club at 1.00pm.

Ten goal romp

by Under-12s

Ilkley U-12s...................10

Harrogate Railway......0

Following promotion to Division One of the Harrogate League Ilkley Under-12s have at times struggled to come to terms with 11-a-side soccer and the changes it has brought including the off-side rules and the much larger playing area.

However, they have started the year in the best possible way with a 10-0 trouncing of Harrogate Railway.

From the start they began to play as a unit with some good passing movements involving all members of the team. The forwards had a number of chances before Charles Wood put Henry Wilson into the perfect position to put Ilkley ahead.

Johnny Stevens scored the home side's second goal, hitting the target on the rebound after his first shot was saved. Matthew Mould hit the side netting and shortly before half-time provided the final touch after almost every forward had fired shots at the 'keeper to give Ilkley a three-goal lead.

After the interval it became apparent that Ilkley were hungry for goals, the fourth coming from David Stansfield, then a well-timed cross from Johnny Stevens was converted by Charles Wood.

Once again an Ilkley attack saw three or four players lining up to shoot with the goal eventually going to Henry Wilson to make it 6-0. He also racked up the next two goals before David Stansfield caught the Railway 'keeper off his line to score his second and the side's ninth. Finally Henry Wilson scored the tenth following a long pass from Alex Bailey.

Although the score suggests a one-sided match, Harrogate attacked on numerous occasions only to be beaten off by a determined midfield and defence with key roles played by George Thompson, Richard Atkins and Mark Cauldwell and some extremely sound goalkeeping by Dean Henderson.