Ilkley Town pulled off an impressive 3-1 win on Saturday against Euxton Villa, which puts them up to second in the North West Counties Football League First Division North.

A brace from Kevin Gonzalez followed a strike from Nathan Hunt, as Ilkley came back from 1-0 down to beat their nine-man hosts, leapfrogging them in the table in the process.

At the start of the game, Ilkley struggled to find their feet and Euxton were controlling possession in the first 10 minutes.

The Baht’atters did have the ball in the back of the net though after a nice finish from Gonzalez, but the linesman flagged for offside.

Shortly afterwards, the hosts opened the scoring when Rajwinder Uppal scored after 20 minutes to give them the advantage.

However, there was an almost immediate response from Sam Dexter’s side when home goalkeeper Joshua Brooks got caught off his line and Hunt hoofed the ball into an open net from long range to make the game all square again.

In the second half, the game turned on its head when Euxton's Nathan Parish was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Ilkley took full advantage, Gonzalez getting on the end of a throw-in before slotting the ball home from close range.

Things soon went from bad to worse for Euxton, who were down to nine men after Uppal was given his marching orders for an altercation with the linesman.

Right at the end of the match, Ilkley won a penalty and Gonzalez converted it from 12 yards make sure of the victory for Ilkley.

The result is a great one for Ilkley, who move up to second in the playoffs, whereas Euxton have now dropped down to fourth.

Next up for Ilkley is a game away to Atherton Laburnum Rovers on Saturday.

Atherton are also in the playoffs at the moment, so it will be another huge game for The Baht’atters.