Silsden U-19s 3 Yorkshire Main 2
Silsden AFC Academy won an enthralling encounter at Cougar Park last Wednesday night to book a place in the Northern Alliance U-19 League Cup final.
This was a cup classic between two excellent sides that set out to play neat attacking football right from the start. Silsden ran out 3-2 winners with Sam Rooke netting a 92nd minute goal to complete his hat-trick and put Silsden in the cup final against either Fields AFC or Appleby Frodigham on April 27 at Liversedge.
Yorkshire Main arrived at Cougar Park with good pedigree sitting top of the Northern Alliance Central Division having suffered no defeats and only one draw this season.
Silsden knew they would be in a tough game and were under extra pressure with players Tom Dibb, Tom Wilkinson, Shaun Airey and Josh Atkinson all missing. Lawrence Waite partnered Rooke up front with Patrick King and Rob Barraclough the wing backs in a 3-5-2 formation.
Typical of a cup semi-final the game was a tight encounter early on. Scott Hanson headed wide from a corner in the game's first opportunity but playing down the hill it was Main who exerted the most pressure with a succession of corners. The Silsden rearguard, ably led by skipper Arley Barnes, stood firm.
Silsden had to wait till the 20th minute before a shot on target. Waite and Rooke linked well and James Dunn had a strike which the keeper gathered.
Scott Hanson was enjoying space at the back and it was he who looked most likely to force an opening with a number of superb searching balls. One released Rooke who shot over.
Main were a serious threat on the break with their two wingers looking dangerous. One of them was fouled and keeper Ben Wilkinson made an excellent save from the resulting free-kick. Wilkinson also made a good save on another Main break. Silsden soaked up five minutes of pressure but again held firm, largely down to Wilkinson.
Silsden came back and looked threatening without really working the Main keeper. The first notable save was from James Dunn's header following a Rooke strike on a corner. A good half of tense cup football ended 0-0.
The second half started with both teams determined to break the deadlock. In the 47th minute Barnes blocked a shot and another quick break by the same player was halted by a superb challenge from Matty Wilson. Lewis Barker came more into the game linking with the front men and his drives from midfield looked threatening. He shot over following an excellent turn and run.
In the 62nd minute the deadlock was finally broken and unsurprisingly it came after Main's winger, who had been a thorn in Silsden's side all night, crossed towards the back post where the unmarked Main striker stabbed home.
Matty Kershaw replaced Dunn up front and Joe Jalil came on for King four minutes to add even more attacking impetus. The attacking changes paid off as pressure on Main's defence forced a poor back header and Rooke reacted sharply to smash home at the far post in the 70th minute.
The joy was short lived as Wilson tripped the Main winger to concede a penalty just a minute later. It was coolly dispatched.
Main sat back to defend their lead and withstood constant Silsden attack in the last 15 minutes. Main had a penalty claim turned down in the 88th minute and it came back to haunt them as in the final minute Rooke again reacted quickest in the penalty area, following a save from Barraclough's strike, and Silsden were level.
With injury time running down Ben Chrispin's fierce strike from 25 yards forced another great save but this time Rooke shot against the keeper, with the goal at his mercy, and Barraclough's follow up was deflected over. From the resulting corner Man of the Match Rooke rose to power a header in off the bar to complete a superb hat-trick and win the game for Silsden in the 92nd minute.
Manager James Gill said: "It was a great game between two good sides. I'm delighted we came out on top and I believe we deserved the rewards we got for our fighting spirit and desire. After a good FA Youth Cup run the lads deserve their chance of silverware and now we have it!"
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