AFC Blackpool 1 Silsden 3: Report and reaction

With Carnan Dawson unavailable, Conah Bishop stepped up from the bench for his first league start for the club.

The visitors had more chances in a hard-fought first half but Callum Kirkland pulled off a couple of fine saves. But seconds before the break, Daniel Forrest struck home a free-kick from the edge of the box to give Silsden the lead.

The home side came out looking for an equaliser which arrived in the 57th minute, when striker Ben Duffield ran through the Sils defence and beat keeper Callum Jakovlevs one on one.

However, the away side would not be denied, creating a number of opportunities, while defending staunchly.

A defensive error by AFC saw Silsden retake the lead in the 75th minute, although Niall Sultan’s strike was clearly intended as a cross.

Victory was sealed two minutes later, when AFC overplayed at the back and Aaron Davies made them pay.

It could have been more as Silsden pushed on and AFC manager Dave Worthington could not hide his disappointment.

He said: “Having got level, we then gave away a very soft goal. We were then chasing the game with time running out and I felt we lost our shape and discipline.

“I thought we shaded a tight first half but we gave away a silly free-kick right on half-time and conceded, which gave them a lift and set the tone for the second half.

“We did know things like this would happen. The team is new and we can’t expect to win every game. We were competitive for 65-70 minutes but finished it poorly.”

“The lads are all disappointed as we saw this as a great opportunity to kick on after Saturday. But they need to learn from their mistakes quickly. There are some very good signs and we will endeavour to cut the errors out.”

AFC have the opportunity to make amends on Saturday, when Bacup Borough are the visitors to Jepson Way.

Blackpool: Kirkland, Nay, Betteridge, Cassidy, Taylor, Pickering, McKenna, Mottram, Duffield, Fishwick, Bishop; subs: Muscroft, Vaughan, Clarke, Purdon, Leyland.