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Match report: Ilkley v Old Headingley
Old Headingley's 2009/10 league campaign got off to losing start against Ilkley.
Ilkley 2
Old Headingley 0
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Old Headingley's second season under manager Richard Hamilton got off to a disappointing start as the team went down to two first half goals in a match that never really saw the away team play with the conviction they had displayed in their preseason fixtures.
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With four debutants in the starting eleven and another two on the substitutes' bench, it was a new look Headingley that took to the field. However, it only took ten minutes before their optimism was punctured. Lazy defending on the left hand side allowed Ilkley to work the ball back to their fullback from a throw-in.
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As his dangerous cross was fired into the corridor between retreating defenders and advancing goalkeeper, midfielder Adam Finch's lunge for the ball only served to divert it into his own net and give the home side an early lead.
Stung into action, Headingley responded by getting the ball forward to new look front pairing Liam Taylor and Andy Hallam, but anything they could offer was repelled by Ilkley's back line and their goalkeeper, with Taylor in particular frustrated on more than one occasion.
A surging run from midfielder Ash Austin saw him link up well with Taylor but under pressure from converging defenders he could only direct his shot onto the crossbar.
With halftime approaching the home side doubled their lead as further slack defending allowed the ball to be carried almost the full length of the pitch by Ilkley's marauding right back. As Headingley's players appealed in vain for an offside that never came, a clever through ball was latched onto and new goalkeeper George Clark was left exposed and helpless to prevent a second goal.
Changing formation after halftime, Headingley sought to play the ball more on the floor in the second period and went close in the opening exchanges when substitute Sam Pickup was thwarted by the sharp reactions of the keeper's feet. The frame of the goal denied the visitors a way back into the game as Mark Lucas struck the base of the post from just inside the penalty area, yet at the other end Clark only managed to save his side from conceding a third goal by bravely plunging at an onrushing forward's feet and then seeing the loose ball fired onto the crossbar.
Keeping going until the last, Headingley threatened through long range efforts from Tom McDermott and the persistence of Pickup, but at the final whistle the away team trooped off the pitch with their heads low in almost universal acknowledgement that they would have to show a marked improvement if they were not to risk another season of mediocrity.
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Weather for Leeds
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
