Kirkburton 6
Wyke Wanderers 2
(Under 12 Division II)
IT WAS hard to believe that Kirkburton were the team pushing for promotion as they were 2-0 down after just 10 minutes against Wyke Wanderers.
Wyke had already taken two points from Kirkburton when they drew 4-4 in their previous league encounter and the opening exchanges suggested they might do even more damage as the home side struggled to cope with Wyke’s speedy counter attacks.
Keeper Joe Couble was the creator of Wyke’s first goal when his immense clearance deceived the Kirkburton defence, allowing Michael Brook a free shot past the helpless Angelo Lanni.
Wyke’s advantage was doubled minutes later when Connor Rhodes fed Scott Morris whose left wing cross was turned into the Kirkburton goal by Nathan Khan.
Up until now Kirkburton had shown no signs of breaking through the Wyke rearguard of Matthew Spacey, Isaac Donaldson, Alex Sanderson and Daniel Cook but, much to the relief of the home supporters, Jacob Hanson found time and space to fire Kirkburton back into the game with a fine shot from the edge of the area.
Kirkburton’s confidence was restored and Hanson deserved to equalise when he travelled the full length of the pitch and slid the ball past keeper Couble for what should have been the goal of the game – but the ball rolled agonisingly wide of the target.
Wyke managed to weather the storm and looked like holding their lead until the break but, when they struggled to clear a corner, Kris Kyriacou pounced on the loose ball to stab home the equaliser just before the break.
As the second half got under way, Kirkburton were in full flow and only a superb goalline clearance by Tai Pedder kept Wyke in the game but, it proved to be only a temporary respite as Edward Keighley cut in from the right to fire Kirkburton into the lead with a powerful shot from the corner of the area which nestled in the far corner.
Quinn Riley almost levelled for the visitors but, with the goal at his mercy, the ball bounced unkindly and the chance was gone.
Had Quinn scored at that point the outcome of the game might have been different, but when Jacob Hanson, who had proved a handful for the Wyke defence throughout, scored at the near post to give Kirkburton a 4-2 lead, Wyke’s resistance was ended.
Keighley scored a fifth and Hanson finished off a fine personal display by completing his hat trick minutes before the final whistle.
Kirkburton added another three points to their tally but there are still at least half a dozen teams chasing the promotion places and Kirkburton will have to win a lot more games yet if they are to maintain their position in the top two.
