Hallmark Security League Division One: St Helens Town 2 Silsden 6

SILSDEN hit their opponents for six with an excellent performance against a side who had won their last three games.

The Cobbydalers travelled with confidence to The Ashton United Stadium – Town are still awaiting the completion of their new ground in St Helens – after the previous Saturday’s victory against Alsager.

Chris Wademan came in for the injured Nicky McNally, who failed a fitness test an hour before the game, and Will Storrie returned, while Danny Bunch assumed a midfield role with Max Trueman unavailable.

The start didn’t go to plan with Town scoring the opener on 59 seconds, Andrew Gillespie rising unchallenged to head home a free-kick from ten yards out.

Playing down the slope, Saints created another chance on five minutes when Whelan’s powerful shot was parried clear by goalkeeper Callum Jakovlevs.

The Cobbydalers settled, with Luke Taylor bursting on to a pass from Bunch and driving the ball across the face of goal. Taylor, who had been playing on the left in his three previous games, looked much more comfortable on the right and he was to go on and have his best game to date.

Storrie, on the left, saw a shot charged down into the path of Kyle Hancock, who brought a fine save from Adam Fairchild, before Town’s Luke Edwards fired just wide.

Silsden were level after 12 minutes when a superb though ball from Taylor found Wademan, who broke clear on the right before sliding the ball across the goal area to Storrie, who chipped the ball over Fairchild for the equaliser.

Ten minutes later, in a copy-cat move, Wademan tormented the defence before setting up Storrie for his second.

The pace of Wademan was troubling the home defence and the Silsden striker made it three two minutes later, latching onto a through ball from Kyle Hancock before curling it wide of the keeper.

Hancock failed to get a clean contact after another breakaway but the midfielder brought a save from the Town keeper when he followed up on to the rebound.

Town's defence had no answer to Wademan, who broke through yet again and crossed to Danny Vincent, who shot a foot wide of the far post.

With the advantage of the slope in the second half, the Cobbydalers sought a fourth butDan Illingworth’s header from a corner was cleared at the second attempt.

Storrie, seeking his hat-trick, hit the bar with a deft chip and then curled another effort wide before St Helens exerted pressure at the other end. However, a strong header from Illingworth found Hancock, who weaved his way through the Town defence before rounding the home keeper to make it 4-1 after 58 minutes.

Storrie might have earned a penalty before Town pulled one back when Stephen Rigby volleyed the rebound after the hosts had hit the bar.

Wademan went off injured, allowing sub Ben Cox some rare game time. He showed what he can do when a superb tackle halted Edward Peglar’s run. Then a dip of the shoulder saw him burst through and force a good save.

Skipper Josh Kane, who was injured early in the game, eventually had to be substituted and on came Matty Moses, having recovered from his recent operation.

Academy player Aaron Davis replaced Taylor and immediately scored the fifth, latching onto a through ball from Hancock with five minutes left before Cox topped his fine display with number six in stoppage time.

Silsden assistant boss Matt McNeil said: “It’s beginning to come together. Danny (Forrest) and I have been looking for consistency in both performance and effort. We saw the signs of that the previous week but on Saturday all 14 players played their part. It was excellent.

"We have a tough game at second-placed City of Liverpool on Saturday. It will be tough but we can go there with confidence.”

SILSDEN: Jakovlevs, Holt, Vincent, Kaine (Moses 77), Illingworth, Bunch, Storrie, Eastwood, Taylor (Davis 82), Wademan (Cox 64), Hancock.