Kevin Gonzalez hits a hat-trick as Ilkley put four past Runcorn

On a sunny Saturday afternoon at the MPM Stadium, a stunning second half display from Ilkley Town AFC gave them a comfortable victory against Runcorn Town as striker Kevin Gonzalez contributed to all four of their goals, writes Evan Seaman.

The Baht ’atters burst out of the blocks and got the opening goal after 10 minutes when Gonzalez pounced on a mistake from Runcorn’s keeper Dane Byron before getting his first goal of the season and putting the hosts in front.

Ilkley were now playing some great football as Lewis Seyffert went on a great run with the ball before whipping it into Gonzalez who head towards goal but goes just wide of the goal.

However, Runcorn made it all square again shortly afterwards when Zac Byrne found space inside the penalty area before going for glory and the ball rippled the back of the net.

After about half an hour, the game was getting very entertaining as both teams were in full attacking mode.

But it was Ilkley who struck again just before the break, as Nathan Hunt rounded off a nice move from the home side to put them in a strong position for the second half.

In the next 45 minutes, Ilkley wasted no time to get into their rhythm again as they were controlling possession and then Hunt played a looping through ball to Gonzalez who rose above Byron before heading it into the net to make the score 3-1.

Sam Dexter’s side finally rounded off the victory when Gonzalez bagged his hat-trick as he poked the ball home from close range to get Ilkley’s fourth goal of the match.

For the rest of the game, Ilkley were winding down the clock to ensure they got back-to-back wins.

This result means Ilkley move up to 4th places for now while Runcorn languish in mid-table.

Next up for Ilkley is away to Bacup Borough which will be a quick turnaround as it is on Bank Holiday Monday at 3pm, but they will be doing everything they can to keep up the momentum.