Ilkley 48 Wheatley Hills 13

ANY doubts that the Ilkley faithful had on seeing the teamsheet, shorn of two first-choice locks, were soon relieved with a clinical demolition of a team that had already beaten the Dalesmen twice this season with their powerful forward play.

Ilkley were simply unstoppable and although Wheatley Hills did mange to secure two tries via their feisty forwards, Ilkley’s backs were more than up to the task, running in no fewer than eight tries. There was also a virtuoso performance from stand off Josh Kimber, whose first-half hat-trick of tries took the wind out of Hills’ sails.

The win leaves the Dalesmen 11 points ahead of their nearest rivals for the second place play-off spot and achieving that position is in their own hands.

They put a marker down in the first minute when Hills made a mess of their kick-off. Ilkley won the resulting scrum and moved the ball right for Kimber to stretch over for his first try. His conversion was badly skewed off target.

The home side extended their lead to 12-0 in the tenth minute. Hills failed to deal properly with Tom Collard’s grubber kick.

Their clearance went to Ben Magee who set up a counter attack which saw Kimber crash over after a sublime pick up off his toes from J-H Johnson. Kimber’s excellent conversion added the extra two points.

Ilkley’s superiority told minutes later, when more good work by Magee led to a Paul Petchey try. The dozy Hills defence allowed the winger to pick up a poor pass at leisure and choose his own place to touch down.

Hills showed what they can do when young stand off Owen Gilvray pushed Ilkley deep into their 22 with a penalty. The catch and drive from the resulting line-out saw flanker Ryan Crasswell dive over for a try.

Gilvray missed the conversion but reduced the deficit to 17-8 shortly afterwards with a penalty from under the posts when the Ilkley defence failed to deal with a chip through.

Ilkley were getting on the wrong side of referee Owen Tovey at this stage, but their backs continued to impress. When a slick move broke down on the Hills’ ten-metre line, the visitors were penalised. Collard’s quick thinking put Kimber over for his third try to make it 24-8.

The home side started the second half where they left off and the pressure they exerted on a desperate Hills’ defence yielded a penalty, which Kimber missed.

Ilkley were not to be denied. From the kick-off, another Ilkley foray saw the ball flashed out to JH Johnson, who swatted off two would-be tacklers to score his side’s fifth try.

Wheatley Hills’ forward power was still apparent but there was no stopping the Ilkley backs. A kick ahead was well fielded by Magee and the resultant move saw centre Steve Nolson take a good line to cross near the posts. Ilkley were now home and dry at 36-8 Skipper Stuart Vincent took the field and made some good yards before finding himself in no-man’s land and conceding a penalty. The resultant catch, drive and try was just reward for the Wheatley pack.

A burst of hail resulted in the error count rising from both sides. There was still time for Ilkley’s Yorkshire under-20 starlet Magee to score two tries.

The first came from a break-out and controlled dribble after a Hills knock-on. His second came from the last play of the game. The Hills defence stood back in amazement as a mesmerising run led to a superb individual try.

There is no doubt that this was one of Ilkley’s finest performances. The game-plan worked to perfection and the second XV players who took up the gauntlet performed admirably, so all credit to Johnny Yale and Temour Ahmed.

The seemingly lightweight pack held its own and created the chances for the backs to steal the limelight.

With six games to go, Ilkley are breathing down leaders Sheffield’s neck.