SILSDEN PREVIEW
A battle of the Roses. A battle of top against top. And a battle for a place in the third round of the Isuzu FA Vase for a second season in a row. The Rams take a trip across the hills into Yorkshire to face a side we haven’t met in twelve years – NCEL Premier Division leaders Silsden AFC.
MATCH: Silsden AFC v Ramsbottom United
VENUE: Regal Interiors Stadium, Keighley Road, Silsden, BD20 0EH
COMPETITION: The Isuzu FA Vase Round 2
DATE: Saturday 9th November 2024
KICK-OFF: 3:00pm
ADMISSION: Adults £7 | Concessions £4
OVERVIEW:
The Rams take a break from league action and look towards a run in the prestigious FA Vase but will be up against a formidable opponent – a side that have won all of their last nine games since mid-September and are top of the North East Counties Premier League with a five point advantage.
Silsden AFC – ah yes, a side from yesteryear in the NWCFL who we last played back in March 2012, winning at the HWRS 3-0 on our way to sealing promotion as champions that season, the goals coming from Jon Robinson and two late ones from Gary Stopforth and Lee Gaskell. It certainly was a long time ago but The Cobbydalers have made an impressive start to their campaign this time around, having moved from the NWCFL to the NCEL back in 2019/20 season.
So we put our 13-match unbeaten run on the line, in this competition that manager Steve Wilkes enjoys, and he will be targetting a return to the third round once again. Silsden went one better last season, making it to round four, but we both came to the same sticky end, losing to Hallam away, we lost 1-0 while Silsden came out defeated 3-1.
It’s a battle of the Roses – Lancashire and Yorkshire going head-to-head. Silsden, with joint managers (who thought that was a thing, eh!) while the Rams sit six points clear at the top of NWCFL Premier Division having reached the half-way point of the league campaign.
You would have thought that this would have been a number one pick for the television cameras if this was a higher up competition! Top against top, old friends meeting for the first time in over a decade and, of course, Red against White from across them there hills!
It promises to be quite a game – see you over there!
HISTORY:
This will be the 15th competitive meeting between the sides in a history that goes back to September 2005 in NWCFL Division 1, the Rams winning 2-0 on that first occasion with a double for Stephen McDonald either side of the break.
The overall record in head-to-head is 6-5 to the Rams with three draws although Silsden have won three of the last four meetings, the only one was the 3-0 win mentioned earlier, which was league match number five in the Johnson & Morley ‘we shall not lose another league game to the end of the season’ run and the fourth league match in a row that the Rams didn’t concede a goal – it would extend to another two!
Our record over in Keighley is two wins each with all three of the draws coming at Cougar Park in the first three visits there. The Rams last visit to the Asda Community Stadium (as it was then) saw Silsden take all three points despite Phil Dean’s first half opener that was cancelled out by Timothy Hird and Andrew Lee in the second.
STEVE WILKES SAYS:
“A break from the league sees us take on the league leaders from the NCEL in Silsden, who like ourselves are on a decent run, so it should make for a good game.
“Most people know how much I love this competition so we’ll be going all out to progress into the next round, but we know how tough of a tie we’ve been handed.
“They say you’ve got to beat the best teams to win things and if we can get past Silsden, we know a good team will have been beaten.”
