MATCH DETAILS
Bottesford Town 2-3 Silsden AFC
NCEL Premier Division
Tuesday 3rd September 2024
Barrett Steel Stadium
TEAM DETAILS
Bradbury, Kilner, Stewart, Cromack, Coates(c), Cassidy, Hudson, Conteh, Price (Greaves, 77′), Brooksbank, Connolly (Jeffrey, 68′)
Subs: Haigh, Stockdill, Daly
MATCH REPORT
A quality game of football at the Barrett Steel Stadium saw Silsden run out 3-2 winners over Bottesford Town yesterday evening.
In-form Poacher’s striker Aris Cunha opened the scoring early on before goals from Kayle Price and Mo Conteh saw the game turned on its head just before the break.
Substitute Tom Greaves grabbed a well deserved third on 83 minutes and despite a late Cunha penalty, we were able to hold on for the three points.
The home side came out of the blocks quickly and found themselves ahead just three minutes into the game courtesy of Cunha’s low strike inside the penalty area.
With a few lads missing, Casey Stewart was deployed at left back and his marauding run on 11 minutes almost proved fruitful with his left footed shot well saved by Bottesford keeper Graeme Anderson.
We would find ourselves level on 31 minutes as Sam Kilner played a brilliant throughball into the path of Luke Brooksbank who squared to Price to tap home his 7th goal in just nine games this season.
The turnaround would be completed just before the break as Conteh showed grit and determination to power through the Poacher’s midfield.
A loose touch from Anderson was pounced upon by the WYL graduate who then tapped into the unguarded net for his first goal for the club, silencing the vocal home crowd.
That exciting first half was matched by the second, with some early Bottesford pressure being repelled by our stubborn defensive line.
Ellis Hudson and Price both had chances to further extend our lead but their efforts were sent wide and into the keepers gloves respectively.
Bottesford weren’t without chances of their own however as a flicked header from a corner dropped narrowly wide of Callum Bradbury’s far post.
After Price hit a fierce drive that rattled the upright, we finally thought we had put the tie to bed as Cody Cromack volleyed home a stunning strike from the edge of the box.
Bizarrely however, the linesman chose to disallow the goal, claiming the keeper had been unsighted by one of the Silsden bodies camped inside the Bottesford box.
In the end the disallowed goal mattered little.
Brooksbank’s strike looked destined for the top corner but smashed of both the bar and the post, thankfully it fell into Greaves’ path who headed home in front of the interestingly named “Taco Bell End”.
A late rally from the hosts saw Kilner penalised for a handball inside the penalty area, Cunha stepped up and converted from 12 yards but it wasn’t enough and we were able to bring all three points back home to Yorkshire.
It’s another Bradford Derby this weekend as we welcome Eccleshill United to the Regal Interiors Stadium.
