Silsden 3 Atherton Collieries 0

The Cobbydalers put this contest to bed in the first half by storming to a three-goal lead within 35 minutes against struggling Atherton Collieries.

The visitors made it as difficult as they could in the second half and even succeeded in reducing Silsden to ten men. However, they were not able to make the most of the numerical disparity.

The home side opened the scoring in the tenth minute from a free-kick on the right-hand side.

Martin Packer switched wings to get a curling delivery into the area and Shaun Airey headed it back for a stooping Harry Thompson to nod in.

Thompson was involved in the second goal midway through the first half.

His shot was parried by the trailing leg of the goalkeeper but Lee Reilly was quickest to react and his shot beat the visitors' number one as he tried to recover.

When Graham Holmes picked up a hamstring injury minutes later, Chris Simpson replaced him from the substitutes bench.

He netted the third when he got on the end of an Andy Holden free-kick to head in.

Atherton spoiled the game with a series of niggling challenges and Simpson reacted to one of them.

He was shown a straight red card for retaliation and the hosts had to play with ten men for almost 20 minutes.

Victory keeps the Cobbydalers in sixth place in the North West Counties League top tier, just a point behind fourth-placed Congleton Town.