MATCH DETAILS
Silsden AFC 4-0 Handsworth FC
NCEL Premier Division
Tuesday 27th February 2024
Office Interiors Stadium
SQUAD DETAILS
Rabone, Cromack, C.Stewart, Daly (Hunt, 90′), Cassidy, Clayton (Hartley, 90′), Connolly (Smith, 83′), Maltby, Price, Hudson (Conteh, 85), Brooksbank (A.Stewart, 90′)
MATCH REPORT
An action packed encounter at the Office Interiors Stadium on Tuesday saw us run out 4-0 winners over Handsworth FC.
Ellis Hudson’s first half penalty gave us the lead before Jake Maltby doubled the lead on the hour mark with a cool finish into the top corner.
A corner brought our third goal with both Ross Daly and Adam Clayton claiming the final touch (one for the dubious goals committee) and Jake Cassidy’s powerful header rounding off the scoring.
Handsworth would have the ball in the net early on as Mason Barlow squared for Alfie Dodsworth, thankfully the linesman’s flag went up.
Hudson had the chance to put us ahead on 16 minutes following a handball in the penalty area, the former Bradford man making no mistake from 12 yards.
Nash Connolly has impressed since his signing from Garforth and almost added a second when a loose ball broke to him inside the box, only for an acrobatic save from Dylan Parkin denied him.
After, the visitors began to threaten with efforts from Dodsworth and Shaun Tuton drifting just wide of Jay Rabone’s post.
Their best chance would come on the counter, a two-on-one situation at the back allowed Tuton space in the area with the striker looking to pick his spot.
Brilliantly, midfielder Maltby found himself in the perfect position to hook clear off the line and deny Handsworth their leveller.
Matt Cavanagh describes Maltby as Silsden’s box-to-box engine and he provided further evidence of that after the break as he raced onto Casey Stewart’s through ball before composing himself and firing a superb strike into the top corner.
With the game entering the final ten minutes, we began to pull away on the scoresheet.
Stewart once again providing a dangerous corner, Daly looked to have poked the ball goal bound, with the final touch deflecting beyond Parkin.
Admittedly the angle was hard to see who got the final touch with credit going to Adam Clayton officially, but i’ll leave it to those two to decide who claims that one!
The icing on the cake came on 87 minutes as another set-piece found Cassidy, the centre-forward turned centre-half rising highest and powering home an unstoppable header.
There was still time for Kayle Price to see a headed effort cleared off the line before the referee blew for fulltime, leaving us with a resounding 4-0 victory.
We take on another South Yorkshire outfit in the form of Penistone Church this Saturday, an away day this time round.
