West Yorkshire Premier Division: Ilkley Town 3-1 Hartshead

ILKLEY came from behind to secure a West Yorkshire Premier Division win.

Controversy reigned before the match even began, with Ilkley forced to play in their training gear, after the referee ruled both team's kits were too similar.

Once the match got underway, Ilkley's Adam Davey had the first major opportunity. With Hartshead hesitant in the air, the unmarked Davey rose to meet Lee Spires' header, but his effort crashed against the crossbar.

However, minutes later against the run of play, Hartshead took the lead as Ben Smith's low ball into the box was turned into his own net by Darren Munday.

Undeterred, Town would get back on the front foot and after several promising moves, the equaliser eventually came. Davey's sublime long ball picked out Spires, who from the right wing, drilled the ball low for young forward Tom Archer to tap in from close range.

After the break Ilkley knew the game was there for the taking. The hosts finally took the lead after 56 minutes in, when Tim Edney flicked a header into the box for Davey.

Hartshead keeper Danny Thompson came rushing out but parried the ball against Davey, who watched as it flew into the net.

Ilkley grabbed their third shortly after when Tim Edney fired home after Hartshead failed several times to clear from a corner.

The game ended on a sour note, as a member of the Hartshead coaching staff was ejected from the ground by the referee, for verbal abuse towards the Ilkley bench, before the full-time whistle sounded.

Ilkley manager Simon Armstrong was not convinced by his side's performance. He said: "It was a hard-earned three points. Our mistake allowed Hartshead to go ahead so we had to dig-in but we were not great, even though we ultimately got the job done".

Reflecting on the unsavoury scenes just before the final whistle, Armstrong said: "One of the Hartshead players had kicked the ball away, and Joe Hendrie for us had been booked earlier in the game for something similar.

"The referee didn't hand out the same punishment to them, so our coach Dave Houlston asked the referee for consistency, which seemed to incite the Hartshead manager and assistant to the point where they became very abusive towards Dave.

"I stepped in to ensure nothing else happened, but the referee then did a very good job by coming over and resolving the situation”