SILSDEN’S pre-season ended with a surprise defeat at home to a side not on the non-league ladder but there could not have been a greater contrast once the campaign started in earnest as the Cobbydalers won their opening two competitive games.

The friendly fixture against Manchester Premier Division side Royton Town was arranged late and was an anti-climax as Silsden were playing yet another warm-up game while most other leagues and the FA Cup were starting.

That result and the previous one against Evo-Stik League side Clitheroe, both 1-0 home defeats, didn’t cloud Silsden manager Danny Forrest’s overall view of his club’s pre-season campaign.

He said: “I was pleased with the pre-season – especially that spell in the middle when we beat three very good local teams.”

The Cobbydalers won 4-2 at home against Campion, won by the same score-line against Albion Sports, who included former Silsden player and manager James Gill, and then beat an FC Halifax Town XI 5-2.

Forrest, whose side have started their league campaign with wins over Sandbach and AFC Blackpool, added: “I learned a lot more in those two defeats than our run of wins and I’ve got a good idea how I can tailor my side around different challenges that we’ll face in our league this season.”

The defeat against lower-ranked Royton Town, that wasn’t even on the calendar until late in the schedule, was the one that gave Forrest most food for thought.

Neighbours Bradford Park Avenue also lost their final friendly to a lower division team, albeit non-league stalwarts Altrincham, and their boss Mark Bower had said that defeat came at the right time as Avenue went on the win their first competitive fixture.

Forrest knows Bower well and he said: “I thought that Bowser’s analysis of that was spot on.

“It was the same for us really, lucky that the defeat came when it did. It brought the lads down a bit and they realised that they weren’t invincible. They got the message that you have got to earn any rewards you get in football.

“We didn’t know if we were going to be playing a league game or an FA Cup tie on that day (August 5) so all of the pre-season was based on us working towards that day.

“We got the news through in late July that we hadn’t quite made it and wouldn’t be in the FA Cup. "We arranged a game and just because it was another friendly rather than one with something riding on it shouldn’t have made any difference to the players.

“They should have been focused and given their all no matter what the opposition but that wasn’t the case. That’s when you learn a lot about the character of the players and it’s an important quality because ability isn’t everything.”