Huddersfield Amateur 2 Ilkley Town 2

ILKLEY Town kicked off the new West Yorkshire League Premier Division season with a hard-earned draw against a competitive Huddersfield team.

Town had to call upon a number of players to play out of position with keeper James Hirst serving a suspension and injuries keeping Daz Munday, Joe Gartside, Dan Chadwick, Gaz Pickup and Dave Hancock on the sidelines.

The pack was shuffled with Harry Higgins swapping his defensive duties to help the team in goal and Adam Davey filling in at centre half.

Manager Simon Armstrong had worked on the new formation during pre-season and the team started brightly.

The team created number of chances in the first 10 minutes and new skipper Matt Whitehead scored with a smart finish.

New signings Tom Fleming and Tom Smith combined well and Ilkley really could have been further ahead given their dominance in the opening exchanges.

The team sat back and allowed Huddersfield into the game. From a sweeping cross Huddersfield's midfielder finished with a bullet of a header from a deep run.

It didn't take Ilkley long to restore their advantage. Good work from Smith led to Whitehead tapping home his second of the game. Higgins completed a smart double save to keep Ilkley ahead at half-time.

Huddersfield came out for the second have with more purpose and employed a more direct approach.

They quickly hit the bar from a deflected corner. Shortly after Huddersfield equalised when a well delivered free kick was met first by the head of their centre forward.

For most of the second half the play ebbed and flowed. Ilkley couldn't find the rhythm with which they had started the game but continued to create good chances.

Whitehead was put through by a good ball but the keeper blocked him.

Substitute Toby Harris, returning from injury, created a couple of chances towards the end of the game but couldn't find the net.

Overall this was a decent performance and a point well-earned away from home against a team that finished in the top six last season. Manager Simon Armstrong said afterwards: "I was really pleased with the early intensity and I thought we moved the ball really well creating numerous opportunities.

"The only disappointment was conceding and only being 2-1 ahead at half-time.

"Huddersfield changed their formation in the second half and we didn’t adapt.

"As a result the game became scrappy, lots of needless fouls and we went longer rather than be brave and creative.

"Credit to the players they showed character and resilience to ensure we earned a point."