SILSDEN stalwart Chris Wademan is pushing for a first-team place again, and has re-adapted well to a chilly West Yorkshire.

Wademan scored the equaliser in Silsden's fine 1-1 draw at Yorkshire Amateur in the Toolstation Northern Counties East League Premier Division on February 8, his first goal since returning from some time out in Australia.

It was not his first trip Down Under either, playing out there briefly in 2014. That came after just under three seasons in the first team, where he debuted as a 16-year-old in October 2011.

Discussing the striker's return to the scoresheet ahead of this weekend's home clash with AFC Mansfield, Silsden's manager Danny Forrest said: "I'm really pleased for Chris.

"He went away in summer to Australia for three months and when he came back the team was settled. He's had to work to put himself back in contention.

"We all know the quality they (Yorkshire Amateur) have, but I thought Chris' goal got us what we deserved. We certainly deserved something out of the game and were well worthy of a point.

"It was even more important as it carried on our good run. We had two wins, two clean sheets and some good goals (in successive 2-0 victories over Athersley Recreation and Handsworth before Ammers)."

Put to Forrest that they were games against strugglers that Silsden would expect to win, he said: "We can only beat what's in front of us, and the wins set us up nicely for Yorkshire Amateur.

"I'm really happy because we were a bit out of confidence (after three defeats in a row). It has been a bit of an up and down season for us but now we've got some strong results it's all about consistency.

"The mood is snowballing now and there's a good feeling, we've just got to not let any further setbacks affect us for longer than they need to."

One setback is that Silsden have had a two week gap between the clash at Ammers and this weekend's game with AFC Mansfield.

Asked if having last Saturday free was frustrating, Forrest said: "Of course. Any manager or group of players would tell you that when you're on a good run.

"The players trained twice and did really well last week but obviously they were preparing for a game a week on Saturday.

"It would have been nice to put what we'd done into practice at the weekend to keep up that momentum, but there's nothing we can do.

"We've just go to keep fresh and be enthusiastic for this week. Hopefully we can put in a performance worthy of a result."

One player who they will be less than enthusiastic about facing though is Mansfield striker Ross Duggan.

He has scored 19 goals in 19 league games this season, and netted a hat-trick in his side's 3-2 NCEL League Cup win over Rossington Main on February 11.

He also netted in the 2-2 draw against Silsden in the reverse fixture, and Forrest said: "Ross was good at their place. He's a handful, who's physical but also has a fair bit of talent.

"He likes to drop his shoulder too to give himself half a yard. He's not straightforward to face."

If they can contain Duggan, Silsden will fancy themselves to pick up another three points.

Asked whether he starting to eye up an end of season target yet, Forrest said: "We've not really thought about a target, we just want to finish as high as we can.

"I think our highest finish at this level was ninth about eight or nine years ago (in the North West Counties League) so it would be great to compete around that end.

"It's a bit tight around the middle with some good teams in there. We were only 15th (now 13th) two games ago and we're wary that a couple of results not going your way could put you back down there again."