Thackley travelled to local rivals Silsden for this Friday evening league encounter looking to extend their unbeaten start to the season. The Cobbydalers were one of the teams fancied to do well this season, having recruited a number of players over the close season that had played at a higher level. However, they had already tasted defeat on Tuesday night when they were beaten at Tadcaster. After victories in their opening two games, Thackley had drawn at Bottesford on Tuesday night. Matt Dempsey returned to the centre of the defence, Corey Billy dropping to the bench, the only change from that game.

Most of the play was confined to mid field in the early stages of the half. Thackley won an early corner and Luke Wilson, playing his 300th game for Thackley, saved well from Kayle Price following a defensive mistake, it was a pretty even opening twenty minutes or so. Lewis Gardner was the first player to go into the referee’s book for a rather reckless challenge on the half way line mid way through the half. As the game started to gain momentum, Silsden had a goal ruled out for offside before Luke Brooksbank’s shot went wide of the post. Thackley’s first real chance of the game came just after the half hour. Josi Bradshaw, out on the left, drilled the ball across the face of the goal, Ben Grech-Brooksbank, coming in at the far post, was inches away from getting a touch. Thackley were pushing forward and Jake Cassidy was given the second yellow card of the game for blocking Nathan Hunt has he ran through. Both teams were cancelling each other out, with neither side creating a great deal in the opposition’s box. The teams went into the break level, in a pretty even first half.

Half time: Silsden 0 Thackley 0

Thackley were first to threaten at the beginning of the second half, Lewis Sugden released a shot which cleared the bar. It was somewhat against the run of play that Silsden took the lead ten minutes in. The goal came out of nothing, the ball dropped to Ellis Hudson on the edge of the box and he volleyed it across Wilson into the far corner of the net. The home side doubled the score eight minutes later, Price was allowed room when he picked up the ball and smashed it past Wilson. The home side were now on top and Thackley were on the backfoot. Thackley made a triple substitution in the hope of halting the onslaught, Joe Mitchell, Finn Donovan and Hunt making way for Harry Parsons, Jake Holcombe and Tawheed Ahmed. Minutes later and Silsden scored a third. Wilson did well to stop a Tom Greaves shot but Brooksbank was on hand to knock the ball in. Thackley needed to dig deep to ensure that they were not overrun. It got worse for the away side, with just over a quarter of an hour left, Dempsey must have had words with the referee and he was sent to the sin bin. Thackley made another substitution, Xantino McNally replacing Bradshaw. The home side continued to push forward and created a couple of half chances which finished just wide of the target. Mark Everington was booked late on before Ahmed’s shot just before the end was saved comfortably by Callum Bradbury. In the end it was a comfortable win for the Cobbydalers.

Full time: Silsden 3 Thackley 0

This was always going to be a tough game and Thackley were more than equal to Silsden in the first half. They started the second half well but a goal out of the blue turned the game on its head and Silsden capitalised on some defensive errors.

There were some positives from this game, Thackley need to take these into their match against local rivals Eccleshill next Tuesday evening. It will be another tough game, Eccleshill have had a very good start to the season and remain unbeaten.

Silsden team: Bradbury; Cromack; Clarke; Daly ©; Coates; Cassidy; Hudson; Conteh; Price; Brooksbank; Stewart. Subs: Greaves; Jeffrey; Connolly; Thompson; Haigh.

Thackley team: Wilson; Everingham; Gardner; Sugden; Dempsey; Hudson; Donovan (Holcombe 65 mins); Mitchell (Parsons 65 mins);
Bradshaw (McNally 81 mins); Grech-Brooksbank ©; Hunt (Ahmed 65 mins). Unused sub: Billy.

Silsden scorers: Ellis Hudson (56 mins); Kayle Price (64 mins); Luke Brooksbank (68 mins)

Attendance: 453.

Referee: K O’Donnell.

Photo:from Silsden website.