THE Dalesmen’s renaissance continues apace with a very solid away win at Castle Park on Saturday, home of both Doncaster Phoenix and Knights.

The bonus-point win moved Ilkley one place up the League and closer still to mathematical safety.

Phoenix might have saturated Ilkley’s chips five minutes from the end, when a simple looking penalty was pushed wide by stand-off Julian Lesczcynski, who hitherto had nailed each of the four kicks presented to him. The miss cost his side a losing bonus point and eighth position, as they now lie one point behind Ilkley.

Again, a strong second half performance and judicious use of replacements won the day for Ilkley and it was heartening to witness how well this side has developed after its uncharacteristically shaky first half of the season.

Ilkley’s kick-off went straight into touch and at the scrum restart, the Phoenix pack looked ominously strong, winning a penalty, kicked to the visitor’s 22. Not straight at the line gave Ilkley the put in and this time, the Ilkley pack looked solid and they stayed that way.

The stalemate was finally broken when Ilkley offended well within kicking distance and Lesczcknski kicked the goal.

Phoenix kept knocking on Ilkley’s door and after a good run by centre James Wright to the Ilkley 22, Ilkley’s backs strayed offside and it was 6-0 to Phoenix.

With five minutes to half-time, Magee came up with the goods, bursting through the centre and running round a bemused defence to score on the left wing. Chuckie Ramsay’s kick was just wide to the right.

Phoenix had another foray into the Ilkley 22, but the defence held out with the score at 6-5 to the hosts.

The second half did not start well for Ilkley, as the kick-off was knocked on, deep in their 22. Phoenix duly won their put in, but the Ilkley front row was adjudged to have stood up and that was another three points for the seemingly infallible Lesczcknski.

This setback certainly galvanised the Dalesmen into action and they entered something of a purple patch over the ensuing quarter of an hour.

First, a Phoenix clearance was a fielded by Magee, who again waltzed through the defensive line. As the cover drew close, a kick ahead bounced high over the goal line and Ben Walker was first on the scene to touch down. Ramsay made the best of a difficult kick and Ilkley led for the first time in the match.

Then it was flanker Max Jones’s turn to show a clean pair of heels to the Phoenix defence, followed by an equally impressive charge from Steve Costello, who had replaced J-H Johnson at half-time. This time, skipper Joe Lowes was on hand to take the pass. There was still a lot of work to do, but that work was done well and Ilkley had their third try, converted by Ramsay to make it 19-9

Just two minutes later, a carbon-copy take by the Ilkley left-wing was shovelled over to Magee at speed. With Brook in support, the ball eventually found its way to Ramsay, who had popped up on the right wing. A sprint, a great hand-off and over he went in the corner for the try-bonus. He kicked the goal too and Ilkley looked out of sight at 26-9.

Doncaster did pull one back but it was too little, too late as Ilkley held on for a 26-16 victory.