Feisty Yorkshire derby ends in a score draw

Last night, both Ilkley Town AFC and Steeton AFC had to settle for a point apiece as the visitors were frustrated for much of the game thanks to some resolute defending from the hosts, writes Evan Seaman.

The first chance of the game fell to Steeton when they won a corner, and the ball was whipped in, but Jordan Moorhouse was on hand to punch the ball away from the danger zone.

Then Ilkley had an opportunity after about 20 minutes when striker Kevin Gonzalez tried to loop the ball over James Catlow but there was no luck for The Baht’atters no 9.

However, shortly afterwards, Ilkley won a corner and as the ball was whipped into the penalty area, Catlow spilled the ball into Tom Smith’s path who scrambled the ball into back of the net to open the scoring for the hosts.

Not long after his first goal, he nearly doubled his tally when Smith went for the spectacular from outside the box, but Catlow pulled off an outstanding save to keep the visitors in the game.

At up until the stroke of half time, it looked as if Ilkley were going to head into the break with a slender lead, but Steeton’s Raeece Ellington had other ideas.

Ellington picked up the ball and cut inside from the left wing before going for the powerful shot which took a wicked deflection as it ends up fooling Jordan Moorhouse to make the game all square again.

For much of the second half, the game got caught up in the middle of the pitch as Ilkley stood firm to deny the visitors a second goal.

For the rest of the game, Steeton pressed Ilkley very effectively which caused them all kinds of problems. However, the visitors were unable to make use of their dominance as Ilkley clung onto their point.

The result means Ilkley have dropped one place to fifth but still in the playoffs, and travel to Ashton Athletic on Saturday before heading back to the MPM Stadium to host Shelley.