THACKLEY tumbled out of the Northern Counties East League League Cup in midweek at home to Handsworth, as they will hope to put an end to their wobble this Saturday.
It has been an excellent season so far the Dennyboys, but their title hopes took a hit last Tuesday after a ghastly second-half collapse saw them lose 3-0 at Frickley Athletic.
A free weekend last time out allowed other sides to make up ground on them, before they returned to action in the cup this Tuesday and lost 3-1.
While Thackley manager Danny Forrest rotated his team slightly, he still put out a strong starting XI.
The Bradford side started slowly however and after Alfie Dodsworth had a goal disallowed for offside for Handsworth, the visitors went in front through Scott Ruthven’s header.
That seemed to wake Thackley up, with Jos Bradshaw and new signing Slater Barnes both forcing decent saves out of Dylan Parkin.
But Handsworth grabbed a crucial second goal just before half-time, Mitchell Dunne finding the net in a crowded box, after missing an easier chance moments earlier.
Thackley hit back well at the start of the second half, halving the deficit when Barnes tapped home Tawheed Ahmed’s excellent cross to the back post.
A quiet second half followed until Tyler Williams was sin-binned for Handsworth after 78 minutes.
Down to 10 men, the visitors had to weather a storm, with Jensen Lambert denied by Parkin and Matty Dempsey failing to turn home the rebound.
Ahmed’s freakish cross almost found the net seconds later, but Parkin adjusted brilliantly to turn it behind for a corner.
But with Williams back on the field, the away side sealed victory in stoppage-time, as Dunne latched on to a long ball and raced through unmarked to score past Thackley keeper Michael Roxburgh.
It was a far better Tuesday night for Silsden, who remain top of the NCEL Premier Division table by two points.
They managed that with a 3-2 home win over Pickering Town in midweek, which was less comfortable than it initially looked like being.
Ellis Hudson’s penalty and a Kayle Price strike put the hosts 2-0 up after 15 minutes, but Pickering began to get on top and scored twice either side of half-time to level the game.
Price came up trumps though, netting Silsden’s winner midway through the second half.
Silsden’s neighbours Steeton were involved in a five-goal thriller themselves on Tuesday night, but they came out on the wrong end of their Macron Cup second round tie at home to Nelson.
Josh Debenham gave the Chevrons an early lead, but the in-form visitors equalised after 20 minutes.
Two goals in six minutes late on from Nelson finished off Steeton, who did at least have the last word through a Josh Coe penalty in their 3-2 defeat.
Finally, Will Longbottom scored both goals as Guiseley moved up to fifth in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, with games in hand on all of their play-off rivals, with a 2-0 win over Prescot Cables at Nethermoor on Tuesday.
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