North West Counties League First Division North
Simon Armstrong was confident Ilkley Town were on the brink of securing their first victory as a Non League club after opening the campaign with five consecutive defeats.
Ilkley broke their duck in sensational fashion with the 6-0 demolition of Darwen on Saturday.
Ilkley had been unlucky in four of their opening fixtures – losing out narrowly to Bury AFC, Ashton Town, Holker Old Boys and Chadderton.
“It was a relief (getting the first win) because you want to register points on the board but I don’t think in the first five games that we were in any doubt that we could get points and win games,” Armstrong told Non League Yorkshire.
“What the first five games showed us was that we can be more than competitive and we can score goals – which we did apart from the Bacup game when we went down to ten men after 20 minutes.
“The Chadderton game was something of a turning point for the players.
“Things started to click.
“We went away to a team who had won out of five games and were near the top of the league.
“We were the better side over 90 minutes.
“We had the better chances, the better territory and we had a couple of great opportunities to take the lead in that game before they scored the winner.
“You just felt if we got in front in the second half we’d go on and win the game.
“That fixture demonstrated that we are a truly competitive side and we can match even the teams at the top end of the table.”
Tom Smith’s hat-trick and goals from James Hughes, Niccolas Hewitt and Kevin Gonzalez Mele destroyed Darwen – much to Armstrong’s delight.
“It was a good first win,” he said.
“We went to Chadderton last Tuesday and lost in the 95th minute to a wonder strike into the top corner after the lads had put in a terrific performance.
“They showed a great mentality and resilience so all we asked them to do was carry that on into Saturday’s game.
“They did that and in the first 30 minutes we were good value to be 2-0 up.
“Credit to Darwen, for the last 15 minutes of the first half they were unlucky not to register (a goal).
“In the second half the goals came at key moments for us.
“When we got the third the game really stretched and Darwen pushed and pushed and lost a bit of their shape.
“That allowed us to get six.
“It flattered us a bit, for sure. Darwen were unlucky not to register (a goal) and will feel six was harsh.
“My feeling is we deserved to win the game and after what we had to go through in the first five fixtures, it was nice to have that kind of performance and result.”
Apart from the Bacup game, Armstrong puts the defeats down to fine margins.
“That’s way we have looked at it,” he said.
“We knew it was a step-up and we knew it would be a challenge but we always knew we were ready to step-up.
“We could have stayed in the West Yorkshire League and been in the top two or three competing for trophies.
“It has certainly been challenging in our first three weeks of the season for one reason or another.
“When we review every game, it is down to those fine margins – the goals we concede and the chances we miss.
“It is such a fine line and they didn’t go in our favour in the first five games and it has been a steep learning curve for me and the players.
“But that’s what we wanted and that’s how we improve and get better – not just the players, but me and the management team as well.
“It has been a test and it will continue to be a test but it was nice to finally get the reward of three points and a quite emphatic win.”
Some managers would react to a five-game winless run by changing tactics and shipping multiple players in and out.
Armstrong resisted the temptation and even admits the last three weeks have been beneficial for the club and its players.
“We haven’t changed a right lot but I think the worst thing you can do is press the panic button,” he said.
“That’s my personal opinion.
“When you do that it shows desperation and it feeds into your players when you change too much.
“Don’t get me wrong, personnel has been the biggest challenge in the first five games.
“We have had players isolating, injuries to two or three key players and we have had suspensions.
“Then we’ve had people going on holiday.
“So we’ve had our fair share of issues personnel-wise but despite that we have shown the strength of the depth in the squad.
“We have blooded a lot of young players in the first five games – quite a few teenagers who are getting their first taste of Step 6 football.
“We’re getting invaluable experience into these young players which is going to stand them and the club in good stead moving forward.
“We’ve stayed consistent in the way we play and the messages we want to give.
“We just said to the players that we needed to be patient and to be consistent in what we do and to trust the process that results will come.”
Ilkley hope to follow up their first win at South Liverpool on Saturday before the Bank Holiday Monday visit of Nelson to the Ben Rhydding Sports Centre.
That is the final game of a busy August.
As we head into September, Armstong confirmed that he expects to bolster his squad next month.
“We have two players who we are due to bring in at the start of September,” he said.
“They are two very talented players who we are very excited about as they’ll boost our options higher up the pitch.
“We may have another two in September but we’re working on them.
“If we were to get those four I’d look at the squad and say ‘right, I’m happy with the options we have got’.
“Two of them are University students.
“One of (the four) is a guy who is moving this way but I used to go to university with his current manager at Step 7.
“He rang me up and recommended him to me.
“Another maybe signing is a loan signing but I can’t go into any detail with that at the minute.”
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams.
Our work is playing an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
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Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.
