Ilkley Town 2 Ventus Yeadon Celtic 1

Ilkley Town claimed a Wharfedale Challenge Cup semi-final place with this narrow victory over a highly-competitive Yeadon Celtic side.

The game was punctuated with free-kicks and never really settled into any pattern as tackles flew in all over the pitch and referee Tony Brown was in the thick of the action.

Ilkley made a positive start and Joe Hendrie combined well with Ross Hutchison to race clear on the right but his cross-cum-shot was unable to find Mark Houlston at the far-post.

Yeadon’s attacking threat came from long-balls over the Ilkley defence where Andy Bloom and Darren Munday managed to win their individual battles but were grateful to ‘keeper James Hirst for making a fine close-range block after Adam Turner avoided an offside appeal.

The referee was busy as the game became fractious and a spate of off-the-ball incidents undermined the focus on playing football. Gradually, Yeadon began to win more possession in midfield and looked more threatening, especially from set-pieces as Hirst was under severe pressure as he tried to clear from corners and long-throws.

Yet it was Ilkley who took the lead after 30 minutes with a first goal for the club by James Hanna. Houlston battled for possession just beyond the halfway line and Sam Dexter combined with Hutchison to send Hanna running beyond the Yeadon defensive line and the Ilkley midfielder lifted the ball over the advancing ‘keeper into an unguarded net.

The second-half mirrored the first with Yeadon seizing more of the ball in midfield but relying on direct through passes which the Ilkley defenders dealt with effectively most of the time.

When Ilkley managed to find good possession in midfield and move the ball quickly they looked capable of adding to the score. The introduction of Damian Smith added to this threat with his close control in tight situations and just as Ilkley began to gain a little more control Yeadon equalised.

The dangerous Turner found space to turn and clip the ball behind Ben Dexter and then raced forward to side-foot the ball into the goal after Hirst could only fingertip a low cross-shot into the six-yard box.

Ilkley were on the back-foot for the next ten minutes without Yeadon ever creating a clear chance to add to the score and then the scoring pattern of this disjointed game was continued when Hendrie and Ben Dexter found space on the right allowing Dexter to whip in a fine near-post cross where Thommesen threw himself in front of his marker to glance the ball into the net.

The final ten minutes were fiercely contested and Ilkley hung on to record a victory in a game that won’t live long in the memory of many players or spectators.

On Saturday, Ilkley Town return to league action with at home to in-form Altofts (2pm).