Ilkley Town 3 Nostell MW

A deserved victory for Ilkley Town in a game where the winning margin should have been greater as the home side dominated the match.

A towering header by Andy Bloom from Damian Smith’s corner gave Ilkley the lead in the third minute, and Nostell keeper’ Smith saved at the feet of Adam Davey and held Jim Hannaford’s shot as Town should have added to the score.

The second goal came after 20 minutes when Danny Bott’s raking cross-field pass sent Davey racing clear and he shot past Smith.

In typical fashion, Ilkley players then started to get lazy and, in a rare Nostell attack, Atkinson collected a misplaced header and his scuffed shot somehow found its way through a ruck of defenders and past James Hirst.

Thankfully, Ilkley responded almost immediately when Bloom’s long pass found Davey on the left and the striker clipped the ball into the path of Hannaford whose clever back-heel found Smith who dribbled past the ‘keeper to push the ball into an empty net.

It was a splendid goal by man-of-the-match Smith who tormented Nostell all afternoon with his close control and dribbling ability.

The second-half saw Ilkley squander several goal-scoring chances as Nostell found it difficult to break out of their own half.

Sadly, the visitors seemed to want to spoil the game at every opportunity with a spate of rash challenges that warranted sterner refereeing.

Davey had a close range shot blocked by Smith, Mark Houlston miscued from 12-yards, Rob McKenzie fired wide and Darren Munday blazed over the bar after being set-up by Danny Henderson, as Ilkley searched for further goals.

On the rare occasion that Nostell broke forwards, Matt Trimnell was solid in his defending and full-backs Martin Taylor and Allen Hey continuously prompted attacks from wide positions.

Nevertheless, Ilkley were fortunate when a header by Hepworth was scrambled clear of the goal-line after some indecision following a Nostell corner.

This was a welcome home league victory for Ilkley Town who have often found opponents relish the opportunity to play on such a fine playing surface at Ben Rhydding.

Ilkley face a challenging home game on Saturday against championship contenders Old Centralians (KO 2.30pm).