Bradford (Park Avenue) continued their excellent start to the season, with a first-half blitz of Hallam FC, at the Horsfall Community Stadium.
The hosts took the lead inside the opening few minutes, as Marcus Carver nodded home from close range. The impressive Robbie Fox scored twice in two minutes, firstly with a cool and composed finish, followed by a delicate chip from the edge of the box. A tidy finish from Ethan Kachosa reduced the Countrymen’s arrears, but Avenue regained their three-goal cushion with a superb, first-time effort from Marcus Carver, from 20 yards.
The Avenue started strongly, and were rewarded with the deadlock being broken by our number nine. A smart move down the left wing saw Charlie Winfield spot the run of Luke Parkin, and the forward drifted the ball across the face of goal. Carver was in the right place, at the right time, to head the ball into the roof of the net.
Craig Elliott’s side continued to push forward and were looking dangerous, with every attack. The visitors’ defence and goalkeeper Charlie Dixon-Brown, making his debut after being dual registered from Barton Town, were being kept busy, but their stubbornness was worn down, thanks to excellent passes over the defence, for Fox to convert.
The local lad was causing plenty of headaches for the backline and after receiving a through-ball from wing-back Kareem Hassan-Smith, the striker shifted the ball from his left foot to his right, cleverly stopped the ball with the sole of his boot and side-footed an effort into the bottom from ten yards.
Immediately from the kick-off, the Avenue were hungry for more and after great pressing in the centre of the pitch, midfielder Adriano Moke collected possession. The Avenue’s number eight lofted a ball over the defence into the path of Fox, and with the goalkeeper off his line, the forward lifted the ball over Dixon-Brown’s head and into the far corner from 16 yards.
Despite trailing 3-0 after 18 minutes, the visitors settled and started to threaten Bradford with pace on the counter attack. Forcing the Avenue stopper Dec Lambton into a fine save to his left, the away side continued to push forward and were rewarded with a goal.
A diagonal ball from Doncaster Rovers loanee Rhomani Murray found the lively Kachosa on the left flank. The tricky winger managed to escape his marker, took one touch and fired a powerful right-footed shot past Lambton from the edge of the penalty area.
Before the break, Bradford crucially scored their fourth, to all but put the game beyond their opponents. The visitors tried to play the ball out of the back, but, again, excellent pressing from the Avenue, this time from Luke Parkin and Moke, forced Hallam into conceding possession. The ball fell into the feet of Carver who turned and struck a wonderful right-footed shot over Dixon-Brown from 20 yards and into the top corner, to the delight of the home support.
The second half was back and forth, with substitutions affecting the flow of the game. But, the Avenue were relatively comfortable seeing out the game, with all of the substitutes making a positive impact. Louie Chorlton racing down the right wing and delivering a few great deliveries which were well defended, Jake Thompson piercing through the Hallam defence on the left wing, tireless work from Adam Haw, one-touch football from Connor Shanks to create opportunities and Ben Andreucci being a threat, running off the shoulder of the last man to try and extend BPA’s lead.
The league takes a break again, this weekend, as Bradford make the trip to Lancashire to face Stalybridge Celtic in the FA Trophy, on Saturday 29 August (3pm). You can join the supporters on the terraces by booking away travel through Dave Rawling from the Development Fund (email: daverawling1952@gmail.com / call: 07748 340041).
Bradford (Park Avenue): Lambton, Hassan-Smith, Winfield (Thompson 67′), Duxbury, Misambo, Ible (c), Ekpolo (Andreucci 81′), Moke, Carver (Shanks 74′), Parkin (Chorlton 58′), Fox (Haw 66′).
Goalscorers: Carver (3′), (38′); Fox (17′), (18′).
Attendance: 430
Referee: Hadley Warhurst