ILKLEY Town secured all three points in a 5-1 win against nine-man Sherburn.

The pitch was heavy and the rain prior to and during the game only made it worse.

This, however, did not deter Town in the slightest as they set about their business from the first whistle.

The usual pass and move football was not as evident as usual as Town adapted to the environment, being very competitive in the challenge and looking to play higher up the pitch and cause Sherburn problems.

As both teams eased their way into the game, it was Town who would create a hat-trick of chances with Toby Harris having the best of them as he found space eight yards out only to be denied by the Sherburn goalkeeper.

Town would continue to dominate as they found more and more space to exploit in wide areas as Harris did a fine job of holding the ball up and bringing his teammates into the game.

Sherburn, although on the back foot, were always a danger and posed a real threat on the counter.

In the 35th minute, Harris found space on the left hand side before cutting inside and delivering a cross to the back post.

It eluded everyone except Harry Brown, who rose to nod the ball past the Sherburn goalkeeper and into the net, making it 1-0.

Town doubled their lead six minutes later, as Nicc Hewitt won the ball and sent a nicely weighted pass into the forward run of Brown who coolly dispatched the ball into the corner.

It would get even better for Town before the break as some nice interplay saw the ball find itself at the feet of Tom Fleming, who fired it into Brown, who controlled and volleyed the ball into the net. This completed a nine-minute hat-trick, Harry Brown's first for the club.

The second half was all about game management for Town. This task was made a lot easier in the 52nd minute as a Sherburn through ball was chased by the centre forward.

James Hirst raced out to meet him and clear but was caught by the sliding tackle in the process. The referee brandished a red card, which fuelled an angry reaction from the Sherburn players, with a second red card and two further yellows being shown to Sherburn players. After a crazy few minutes, Town were playing against nine men.

James Hirst managed to continue, but really should have been substituted as minutes later a simple through ball he would normally deal with led to Sherburn pulling a goal back to make it 3-1.

At this point, Hirst had to be replaced and without a sub goalkeeper, Darren Munday took his place. This led to something of a re-shuffle for Town.

Sherburn's mini-revival was short lived as Town now started to move the ball around and really work their opponents.

In the 57th minute, Town restored their three-goal advantage as Fleming produced some great footwork on the left hand side before squaring the ball to Joe Hendrie, who controlled and unleashed a thunderbolt into the top corner of the net to make it 4-1, and scoring his fifth goal in four games.

The game as a contest was now over as Sherburn tried to make it as difficult as possible for Town to break them down.

In fairness to Sherburn and on an increasingly heavy pitch, they did a fine job to restrict opportunities.

Despite this hard work, Sherburn would be breached once more in the 87th minute. Man of the match Brown slipped the ball through to Tom Bull in the penalty area, who opened his body and passed the ball into the corner of the net, making it 5-1 and completed an excellent away win.

This result sees Town move up to fourth in the table with the visit of second placed Leeds City this Saturday.