Spa Athletic....0

Ilkley................2

A welcome victory for the Booth's sponsored Ilkley AFC to end a run of drawn games that has undermined the team's challenge for the Harrogate Premier League championship.

No longer in contention for the league title, this game provided the opportunity for Ilkley to bring members of the highly successful Ilkley Youth team into the senior side to taste higher grade football.

From next season the Youth side will act as a reserve team for the Ilkley senior team as both will compete in the Harrogate League.

Ilkley introduced Jon Keith for his league debut, alongside Youth team stalwarts Trimnell, Richardson and Rishworth.

From the start, Ilkley maintained a high tempo with Keith and Richardson providing width in attack.

With Wilson causing problems with his shielding of the ball, Hall and Knox were able to gain control of midfield and the latter's mazy dribble into the penalty area almost brought the breakthrough after 15 minutes.

Hall and Wilson had shots blocked in the six-yard box before Horne wriggled clear only to blaze over the bar. However, the young striker made amends after 25 minutes when he headed in Richardson's near post corner.

The Ilkley defence was having little difficulty against a lack-lustre Spa forward line, and full-backs Braithwaite and Bellwood often prompted attacking moves from wide positions. Trimnell and Sayers gave little room to the Spa strikers, and Lake was not forced into a save during the first-half.

But a second goal would not come, as Hall, Knox and Wilson all found their path to goal blocked in an increasingly congested Spa penalty-area.

After a brief spell of Spa pressure at the beginning of the second-half, the game settled into another lengthy period of Ilkley dominance.

Lake made positive decisions to capture two dangerous crosses before the introduction of Giles and Cummings increased the tempo of the game, placing more pressure on a tiring Spa defence.

After a determined run into the Spa penalty-area, Keith couldn't manage to get any power into his final shot and Wilson's flick was saved on the line after a long throw by Cummings.

Hall shot over the bar before releasing Wilson who sealed the victory by shooting across the 'keeper into the far corner of the net.

This was fitting reward for a forward who has scored 18 goals this season and made a consistent and significant contribution to Ilkley's success.

With Rishworth and Hall dominating midfield, Ilkley pushed for more goals but were grateful to Braithwaite for a goal-line clearance from a rare Spa corner.

This victory maintains Ilkley's challenge for third place in the league table, and leads into the two remaining league fixtures.

Both games are at home with opponents being close rivals Pool and Boroughbridge, with the latter game concluding the season on Saturday with the kick-off at 3.00pm at West Holmes field.

l Players meet at the ground at 2.00pm.