SILSDEN boss Danny Forrest was thrilled with his side's 3-0 win at Eccleshill United on Tuesday night in the FA Cup extra preliminary round and praised his players' efforts at both ends of the pitch.

He said: "I couldn't be happier. It was our first competitive game in six months, it was in the FA Cup, and we were away at our local and divisional rivals, so it was really satisfying. It was a great night."

Two of Silsden's goals came courtesy of former Eccleshill striker Antony Brown, and speaking about him, Forrest said: "Ant's been brilliant since he came in, a real breath of fresh air and just what the club needed.

"His goals last night (Tuesday) were no surprise to anyone and we're delighted, but he's professional enough to deliver those on any stage.

"I know I said players going back to their old club added a bit of spice to this game, but I don't think it particularly mattered to him that the goals came against Eccleshill."

Silsden also kept a clean sheet, with Forrest full of praise for his centre back pairing and the man between the sticks.

He said: "We've looked more solid recently and Myles (Foley) and Shaun (Airey) have started to develop a promising partnership. It just makes us feel happy and secure at the back.

"Alfie (Darke) didn't have loads to do in goal until the 90th minute against Eccleshill but he kept his concentration and made a great save at the death for his clean sheet."

But Forrest warned his side it was important that this result was not just a flash in the pan.

He said: "It offers a great platform for us moving forward but we've set the standard now.

"We need to be at that level all the time, we can't just pick and choose our games. We've got to be consistent and that is one of the biggest challenges for many of the sides at our level."

Silsden will host Bootle in the FA Cup preliminary round next Saturday, after they beat Avro 2-1 last night.

Discussing their next cup opponents, Forrest said: "When we’ve played Bootle before in the North West Counties League, they’ve always been very strong all round. They’re a physical side but they can also play a bit of nice football.

"They have those different styles they can play and will always be a threat.

"We have been well beaten by them before in the last two or three years but things change. We’ll do our homework and obviously we have contacts in that league that will help us find out more.

"But if we can play like we did against Eccleshill, we can give anyone a game at this level."