THACKLEY won the battle of the Bradford sides on Tuesday evening as they sealed a 3-1 victory in a pivotal fixture against local rivals, Albion Sports.

Joseph Mitchell and Luke Rhodes put the hosts 2-0 up heading into the break, and in that period two red cards were also handed out in what was proving to be another fiery fixture between the sides.

Despite Ellis Wade halving the deficit in the second half, an Antony Brown strike with 15 minutes of normal time remaining closed the scoring in Thackley’s favour.

Victory for the Dennyboys has resulted in them rising into the NCEL Premier Division play-off places (4th), whilst Albion have dropped to 5th in the league, the final spot in the play-off positions.

One point separates the two sides – 35 and 34 respectively.

The opening goal of the contest arrived in the 28th minute through Mitchell, as he tucked home a rebound after Brown’s initial effort was saved by Jordan Porter.

Moments later and Albion’s Sumaili Cisse was sent back to the changing rooms for a second bookable offence.

However, Thackley didn’t retain their main advantage for long, as four minutes later, Matthew Dempsey was shown a straight red card for pulling down his man before he could break clear on goal.

The first half drama was far from over there. Nathan Cartman was hauled to the ground in the penalty area and the referee had no choice but to award a penalty to the visitors.

Up stepped Dominic Staunton to level the scores, but his effort came crashing off Thackley’s post and out for a goal-kick.

That miss proved costly as the hosts doubled their lead just before the interval, Rhodes sweeping home a Finn Donovan cross.

Wade did provide a spark in the second half for Albion and halved the deficit after following in a saved effort from Cartman on the rebound.

However, Brown secured the three points for Thackley in the 75th minute after he headed home another Donovan cross.

The Dennyboys return to action on Saturday when they host another local rival in Silsden, with that game getting underway at 3:00 pm.

Elsewhere on Tuesday evening, Campion booked their place in the third round of the West Riding County Cup.

They thrashed Yorkshire Amateur 4-1 with goals coming from Marcus Day and Nick Boshell who scored a second half hat-trick.

Due to the weather wintery conditions, a number of NCEL and NWCFL fixtures fell victim to the weather, but Campion’s trip to Bottesford Town remained on.

Aidan Day, Michael O’Brien, Ewan Gregson and Covenant Ofoegbu were on the scoresheet as the Bradford side won 4-0 on the road.

They host Frickley Athletic this Saturday (3:00 pm).

Eccleshill United also return to action as they travel to face off with Tadcaster Albion.