SILSDEN entertained Penistone Church on Saturday in the NCEL Premier Division and came away with a creditable 1-1 draw against the in-form visitors.

Penistone had won 13 of their last 15 league and cup games, and as a result, sit fourth in the table.

Reece High put them in front on Saturday afternoon, but the Cobbydalers never gave up, and Jos Bradshaw grabbed a deserved late equaliser.

Silsden's pitch passed a morning inspection, and with the returning Antony Brown in the forward line, it was they who started on the front foot.

They saw plenty of the ball in dangerous positions, but other than a shot from leading scorer Jack Normanton that lacked power, they struggled to create a serious threat.

The visitors seemed quite content to soak up the pressure, but they nearly regretted that when Kyle Hancock went extremely close for the Cobbydalers, curling a ball across which ricocheted off the post.

Hancock and Bradshaw both had half-chances, before the visitors finally threatened midway through the half with High breaking up the right.

The ball struck Hancock and fell invitingly for Kieran Ryan, but Carlton Pownall was at the far post to clear off the goalline.

A four-man break from the Cobbydalers should have led to more, before Jordan Coduri shot wastefully over the Silsden bar.

The visitors soon took the lead anyway with a breakaway goal, with High bursting through the defensive line before sliding the ball home after 32 minutes.

Once in the lead, Penistone sat deep, and Normanton went close to levelling the score after Lewis Gardner had sent a ball through, but his effort just cleared the bar, for the last real chance of the first half.

With the advantage of the wind after the break, Church were on the offensive from the off.

Alfie Darke did well to push High’s effort out for a corner in the opening minute, before Coduri managed to test the Silsden stopper on the hour mark.

The Cobbydalers then broke up the left, with Gardner feeding Finn Donovan.

He slid the ball to Bradshaw, who spotted Normanton in a promising position, but Christopher Snaith did well to parry the subsequent low shot.

The flow of the game was disrupted by a number of substitutions, before an outstanding save from Darke prevented the visitors from doubling their lead.

With 10 minutes left, Darke made another superb save from James Young before launching the ball forwards.

The Cobbydalers put the Church defence under pressure around their penalty area and that paid off when Bradshaw slid the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

Brown then put Normanton through, but his shot flew just over the left corner of the goalpost.

The visitors responded immediately, with Darke denying Ryan with a brilliant save, before Arley Barnes cleared another effort off the line.

In the dying moments, Coduri’s low shot rebounded off Darke’s far post as Silsden clung on for a point which puts them up to ninth.

The Cobbydalers now travel to Sherwood Colliery tomorrow night before entertaining AFC Mansfield at home on Saturday.