Silsden’s joint-manager Matt Cavanagh does not want his side patting themselves on the back despite their historic run in the FA Vase.

The Cobbydalers reached the last-32, the furthest they had ever gone in the competition, but they were knocked out on Saturday after a 3-1 defeat to their Northern Counties East League rivals Hallam.

Silsden were winning 1-0 with half-an-hour to go thanks to an Ellis Hudson goal, but Cavanagh felt his side “threw the game away” with some shoddy defending late on.

And he is worried that is costing them in the NCEL Premier Division, with the Cobbydalers now only having what looks to be an outside chance of reaching the play-offs after an indifferent run of form.

Reflecting on Silsden’s FA Vase journey, Cavanagh told the Keighley News: “I suppose if you look at the bigger picture, the club reaching the last-32 for the first time ever was a great achievement.

“But having got to that stage, knowing we had a real chance to progress to the last-16, against a team we know well in Hallam, it felt like a 50-50 chance of us winning on Saturday.

“They’re a good side without doubt, but we’re disappointed we didn’t beat them.”

The thing that grated on Cavanagh the most was that he felt Silsden were the architects of their own downfall.

He said: “We led until about the 65th minute and the homework we’d done on Hallam was paying off.

Keighley News: Ellis Hudson (left) scored right at the start of the second half for Silsden, and the visitors were on course to progress in the FA Vase with half-an-hour to go on Saturday.Ellis Hudson (left) scored right at the start of the second half for Silsden, and the visitors were on course to progress in the FA Vase with half-an-hour to go on Saturday. (Image: Mike Bayly.)

“But we threw away our lead with silly errors and that’s what I’m most disappointed with, that we let ourselves down.

“We had the opportunity there to reach the last-16 and we would have had a home tie (against Lincoln United) had we gone through as well.

“Hallam are a good side who do carry threats, but I felt we were in control of the game for the most part and were a goal up.

“The problem is, until we stop conceding silly goals like we did on Saturday, it’ll keep being a problem for us all season.

“Individuals have to switch on better in that regard.”

On those objectives for the rest of the season, Cavanagh said: “At the start of the season, our aim was finish as high as we possibly could in the table and nothing has changed on that front.

“We’ve dropped to 10th now and while we have games in hand on the teams above us, I’d rather we had the points on the board.

“We need some consistency now, starting at home to Bottesford Town on Saturday.

“If we can hit form, we can easily move out of mid-table and get back in that play-off chase.

“There’s no reason why we can’t, it’s a good group of lads we’ve put together here.”

Keighley News: The prolific Casey Stewart (right) is likely to play a key role in attack for Silsden during this second half of the season.The prolific Casey Stewart (right) is likely to play a key role in attack for Silsden during this second half of the season. (Image: Mike Bayly.)

Bottesford are only eight points off the drop, having played at least one more game than all four of the teams below them, so Silsden will be favourites to win on Saturday.

But Cavanagh warned: “Any team we play, they all bring different challenges.

“We played Bottesford on their 4G pitch earlier in the season, and we only just beat them 2-1.

“They really looked to play football and I said to their manager I didn’t expect them to be down there at the end of the season.

“I respect them and we have to stay switched on if we want to beat them on Saturday.

“But the main thing is that we have to focus on ourselves and what we’ve got to do to win, game after game.”