Knaresborough Town's ten men hold out for goalless draw at home to Silsden AFC

Given the circumstances, and the fact that the Manse Lane outfit had lost nine of their previous 10 matches, Tuesday's point represents a decent night's work for Rob Hunter and his troops.

Sean Hunter should have given the hosts an early lead on, but his shot lacked sufficient power and visiting goalkeeper Kyle Welch was able to push the ball away.

Hunter was then pulled back as he tried to get in on goal and Jake Rose slammed the resulting free-kick against the upright.

In the 35th minute, Rose was late into a tackle and the referee showed him a straight red card.

Undeterred, Boro kept battling and came closest to grabbing a winner in the second half.

Firstly, Danny Edwards managed to get the ball past Welch, only for a bad bounce to allow the keeper to recover.

Ewan Gregson then embarked on a mazy dribble into a dangerous area, but Welch saved before Sam Cook ran forward and hit a fine, dipping effort which the Silsden stopper just managed to tip over.

The visitors pressed occasionally and Jack Normanton went close, but Jamie Hassall and his defence held firm and Boro could even have snatched the points late on when Joe Navier’s shot from distance flew narrowly too high.

On Saturday, Rob Hunter’s men suffered a third consecutive defeat when they went down 2-1 at Maltby Main despite Tom Dugdale handing them the advantage early on.

Recent results keep them 18th in the table and eight points clear of the drop zone ahead of Saturday’s home showdown with AFC Emley (3pm).