Important Bradford derby sees Albion Sports beat Thackley

The two teams are battling to reach the Northern Counties East League Premier Division play-offs, which will be made up of the sides finishing second, third, fourth and fifth.

Thackley still sit in the latter position after last night’s away defeat, but Albion are now up to sixth, just one point behind their Bradford rivals and crucially, with four games in hand on the Dennyboys.

It was a fairly quiet start to the game, with only a couple of half-chances in the opening 25 minutes.

Thackley’s Corey Billy just failed to get on the end of a well-worked free-kick and Albion’s Robbie Fox fired a shot wide on the turn.

The hosts took the lead just after the midway point of the first half, with a ball down the right wing being cut back to Ash Flynn, who steadied himself before finding the back of the net with a fine finish beyond Thackley keeper Luke Wilson.

But the Dennyboys were soon level, as Finn Donovan sprung the Albion offside trap, cut inside and beat home keeper Kyle Trenerry with a shot that found the far bottom corner.

Albion then struck a free kick just wide, before Thackley were thwarted by a debatable offside flag when they were through on goal with a two-on-one.

Ten minutes into the second half, Albion had a goal dramatically disallowed.

Flynn’s overhead kick looped over Wilson and was heading in, but Fox nodded the ball over the line to make sure, only for him to be flagged for offside.

But Fox made up for that terrible misjudgement with 20 minutes to go.

Albion broke from a Thackley free kick and the only way the visitors were able to stop that counter attack was to commit a foul in the box and concede a penalty.

Wilson saved the subsequent spot kick, but Fox was first to the rebound, putting it into the net to restore Albion’s lead.

And the hosts added a fortunate late third to seal victory, as Billy’s clearance unluckily deflected straight into the path of Flynn, who suddenly found himself one-on-one with Wilson.

The Albion man made no mistake, tucking the ball away to seal the three points, with late half-chances for the visitors, through Aidan Chippendale and Lewis Morgan, coming to nothing.

Silsden were in NCEL League Cup action on Tuesday night, their second round tie at Tadcaster Albion finally going ahead after multiple weather-based postponements.

The game was worth the wait, with Silsden taking the lead early on through Jake Maltby, before finding themselves 2-1 down at the break.

Kayle Price equalised for the Cobbydalers at the start of the second half, but his side had to navigate the last few minutes carefully after skipper Arley Barnes, on his 300th appearance for the club, was sent off for a second bookable offence.

The game went straight to penalties after finishing 2-2, with no extra time, and Silsden came out on top 4-3 in the shootout.

It was a good night for Jake Maltby on Tuesday, as he grabbed Silsden's opener in their cup tie, then scored from the penalty spot in their shootout success. (Image: Mike Bayly.)

They were perfect from the spot, whereas Tadcaster’s Joe Crosby hit the post from 12 yards and Ben Tweed had his penalty saved by visiting stopper Jacob Rabone.

Ten-man Steeton lost 2-0 at home in the North West Counties Football League First Division North to high-flying Ashton Town in midweek, so remain just seven points clear of the relegation zone.

The visitors went in front early on, before netting a second 10 minutes after the break from the penalty spot.

A miserable night was compounded for Steeton when Ben McCready was given a straight red card on the hour mark for what was deemed to be a reckless challenge on his man.

Liversedge led 1-0 at half-time on Tuesday night at home to Grimsby Borough through a Jack Carr goal, and if the score had stayed that way, they would have moved up from 13th to 10th the Northern Premier League East Division.

But Borough still have an outside chance of the play-offs, and they showed their bottle with a fine second-half comeback to complete a 3-1 away victory.

Finally, there was a dramatic finale in National League North in the game between Farsley Celtic and visiting Blyth Spartans.

Clayton Donaldson hit the post for the hosts, Blyth struck the woodwork twice, both goalkeepers produced some stunning saves, yet the game was all set to end goalless.

That was until Lewis Turner, on his 150th appearance for the Celts, popped up with a last minute winner to send the home fans into ecstasy, the victory moving the hosts above Blyth and into 14th in the table.