Late Jack Lane free kick earns Ilkley a point
Ilkley Town 1-1 Athersley Recreation
A dramatic 90 minutes at the MPM Stadium sees Ilkley come from behind to earn a last gasp point thanks to a wonderful free kick from Jack Lane.
The match marked a whirlwind return for Lane who transferred from Tadcaster Albion this week.
Following his free kick in the 90th minute, Lane also saw red straight after his goal making it a tense couple of minutes at the end of the game for the Baht’atters.
It could’ve been the perfect start for Ilkley, but Luke Baldwin saw his penalty missed in the opening stages of the first half following a hand ball in the box.
Ilkley were made to pay for their missed chance as it was the visitors who opened the scoring when a corner ball whipped straight onto the head of Kane Reece to put the visitors one goal up going into the interval.
The second half was much more promising for Ilkley however with a lot more fight in them.
Substitutes Harry Miles and Harry Abson made a big difference with Abson missing a guilt edge opportunity as he went one on one with the goalkeeper but could not convert.
Chances also fell to the feet of Baldwin who dragged an effort wide of the post and it felt like it would not be Ilkley’s day before being saved by the wonder strike from Lane.
Manage Jacob Mistry said:
“It’s a game we can again take a few positives from, particularly the level of control we had for the first 30 minutes of the game, as well as a clear desire to get back into the game when we went one down. However, again, we are extremely disappointed by the fact we haven’t won the game, missing a penalty that would put us 1-0 up, then giving them a cheap goal from a cheap mistake.
"Unfortunately these sorts of things happen in football, but even more so when confidence is low. We can be happy though to be undefeated in two, and clearly stronger defensively, now we just need to convert chances.”
This result has Ilkley 17th place – six points clear of the drop and still three ahead of today’s opponents who lie in 19th spot.
Mistry’s men can take a lot of positives from that second half showing as the side prepare to hit the road as they travel to Armthorpe Welfare next Saturday at 3pm.
Report by Harry Thorne