Season opener ends in defeat for Garry Thompson’s young side.  

Full time: Curzon Ashton 5-0 Bradford (Park Avenue) at Tameside Stadium.

Attendance: 678

First half

After an encouraging start by Garry Thompson’s side, Park Avenue went behind against the run of play in the 24th minute to an Isaac Sinclair goal. The Curzon Ashton striker benefiting from a loose ball that fell to him in the middle of the Park Avenue half, before breaking into the box and calmly sliding the ball beneath Charlie Andrew. Despite the Avenue keeper diving the right way he was unable to prevent the opening goal. 

Eight minutes later Curzon Ashton doubled their lead with a header from Luke Wall who found space in the box from winger Sinclair’s cross to make it two-nil at the break. 

Second half

The hosts continued where they left off in the first 45 with Park Avenue unable to get a foothold in the game. Sean Miller scoring to make in 3-0 in the 58th minute beating Charlie Andrew with a calm finish. 

Oliver Thornley extended the home side’s lead further when he took advantage of a heavily congested 18-yard box from a corner to pounce on the ball as everyone was trying to find their feet.

And with two minutes before the full time whistle, Luke Merrill completed the scoring as he took advantage of a loose ball that the Park Avenue defence failed to clear on a disappointing for Garry Thompson’s first official game in charge. 

Line ups

Curzon Ashton 

Cameron Mason

Andrew Halls

Joshua Askew

Nicky Wroe

Muhamud Ali

Oliver Thornley 

Isaac Sinclair 

Robert Evans 

Micheal Elstone

Sean Miller 

Luke Wall

Subs

Liam Davies

Daniel Shaw

Luke Merrill

Callum Saunders 

Jack Banister

Bradford (Park Avenue)

Charlie Andrew 

Mitch Lund 

Akeem Hinds 

Jon Moran 

Ryan Cresswell (c)

Isaac Marriott

Alex Hurst

Ben Hedley 

Zayn Hakeem 

Elliot Holmes 

Lewis Knight

Subs

Jake Croft

Brad Dockerty 

Matty Clarke 

Sam Wright

Shaun Gardner

1^st Half

Bradford came under pressure almost immediately with Bennett being forced into a early save in the 3^rd minute. However, it wasn’t much longer until Huddersfield made the breakthrough after Bennett brought down Elliott in the box forcing the referee to give a penalty which was duly dispatched giving the away side a 1-0 lead.

Bradford then struggled to get a foothold in the game up until the 21^st minute when Holmes through ball found Rathbone just on the edge of the area who’s shot found the bottom corner to level the game.

Park Avenue then had to hold on again with blocks from Lund and Rathbone in the 23^rd and 26^th minutes keeping the scores level. Scott High was then put one-on-one through in the 28^th minute against ‘keeper Jack Bennet who came out on top meaning that both sides went into break level.

2^nd Half

Bradford started the second half brightly carving out numerous chances and having the majority of the possession. In the 66^th minute Park Avenue had a trio of chances which they unfortunately didn’t manage to finish.

In the 76^th minute the breakthrough finally came when Cresswell powerfully headed home from a corner swung in from the left to give Avenue a 2-1 lead.

Bradford looked like they were going to see out the win until the 89^th minute when Tim Akinola struck late on for the visitors seeing honours even at the end of the game.

Bradford (Park Avenue’s) next game comes on Saturday the 3rd of August where we will kick off the season, away at Curzon Ashton.

Our next home game is against local rivals Guiseley, on the 6th of August, another Tuesday night clash. Certainly a game you will not want to miss.

TEAMS

Bradford (Park Avenue)

   1. Jack Bennett (C. Andrew 45’)

   2. Mitch Lund

   3. Trialist

   4. Jon Moran

   5. Ryan Cresswell (A. Laird 77’)

   6. Lewis Rathbone (B. Hedley 45’)

   7. Matty Clarke (Trialist 68’)

   8. Sam Wright (Trialist 45’)

   9.  Zayn Hakeem (S. Gardner 75’)

   10. Elliot Holmes

   11. Lewis Knight (A. Hurst 61’)

Unused subs; G. Thompson

Huddersfield Town F.C (U19’S)

    1. Jacob Chapman

    4. Oran Thompson (T. Bamford 45’)

    5. Mustapha Olagunju (N. Kherbouche 45’)

    6. Josh Austerfield

    7. Aaron Rowe (D. Mintus 45’)

    9. Kit Elliott

    10. Scott High

    11. Andrew Ijiwole (Trialist 70’)

    21. Trialist(T. Akinola 55’)

    39. Will McCamley

    42. Ilounga Pata

Unused subs; G. Bellagambi, M. Diaby, S. Meeson, G. Alfield

Cards: Knight (7’) – Yellow

Referee: Akill Ahmed

Assistants: Joe Phillips, Umar Ahmed

Tom Banks Memorial Trophy

Penalty shootout sees Bradford City come out as winners in the Tom Banks Memorial Trophy

The game saw both sides push each other till the very end with it coming down to penalties to decide the victors. Despite the result Bradford (Park Avenue) it was another good pre-season performance from Garry Thompson’s side as they managed to match the efforts of their League Two counterparts.

1^st Half

The first half saw both sides match each other in terms of possession, with City just edging out the Avenue in terms of the amount of chances they created, however they failed to make any of this count.

The first chance of the game came in the 10^th minute when Gardner reacted quickly to get his effort on target which was subsequently saved O’Donnell in the Bradford City goal.

Andrew was then called into his first real action of the day when his quick-fire double saves saw him deny Wood and Anderson to keep the scores level.

Due to hot conditions the night both sides agreed to a water break in the 20^th minute, allowing the players momentary respite from the heat.

The half didn’t really pick up much from that point with City managing a few efforts, none of which were really any trouble to Andrew. They came closest in the 44^th minute, however good defending by Croft saw the oncoming shot blocked to keep it 0-0.

2^nd Half

Bradford (Park Avenue) came out much brighter in the second half with Holmes’ effort hitting the bar after he was played in Hurst. Gardner also came close again with another shot on target which was unfortunately palmed over by the keeper.

After a collision in the box in the 71^st minute, the referee award a penalty to Bradford City. Ismail stepped up to take the spot kick, but he saw his effort hit the post before finally being cleared, much to the delight of the Avenue faithful.

Bradford (Park Avenue) did have a couple more chances in the second half however none of these were enough to test O’Donnell in the oppositions goal, leading to a penalty shootout.

Penalties

Former Bradford City player, Garry Thompson stepped up to take the first penalty which he put away with ease however it wasn’t until the 6^th penalty until the net was found again with Bradford City drawing the shoot-out level after three penalties each. Croft then saw his effort go wide, while Morris managed to put his away to give City the lead as it moved onto the final penalties. Holmes stepped to level the tie at 2-2 however it wasn’t enough as Staunton put away his penalty giving City a 3-2 win in the shootout.

TEAMS

Bradford (Park Avenue)

   1. Charlie Andrew (J. Bennet 45’)

   2. Jake Croft

   3. Trialist (Trialist 62’)

   4. Mitchell Lund

   5. Jon Moran

   6. Trialist (L. Rathbone 62’)

   7. Alex Hurst

   8. Ben Hedley (S. Wright 62’)

   9. Trialist (E. Holmes 45’)

   10. Shaun Gardner (G. Thompson 62’)

   11. Matty Clark

Unused subs; None

Bradford City

    1. Richard O’Donnell

    2. Ethan Sefton (F. Cousin-Dawson 78’)

    3. Joe Riley

    4. Daniel Devine

    5. Jackson Longridge

    6. Anthony O’Connor (C. Morris 78’)

    7. Caelin Rooney (C. Shanks 62’)

    8. Luca Colville (Z. Ismail 62’)

    9. Omari Patrick (R. Staunton 78’)

   11. Connor Wood

   ?. Jermaine Anderson (E. Goldthorpe 45’)

Unused subs; None

Cards: None

Referee: Michael Brownsett

Assistants: Paul Jarvis, Joe Phillips

Attendance: 1171

Garry Thompson’s men see out the first victory at Horsfall this season!

1^st Half

The game got off to a slow start with both teams seeing an equal share of possession but neither side managed to carve out any clear-cut chances.

This trend continued up until the 19^th minute when some good play down the Avenue right saw Gardner pick up the ball 25 yards out from goal and get fouled in the process. Ben Hedley then stepped to convert an expertly executed free kick, placing it in the top right corner to give Avenue a 1-0 lead.

Bradford then doubled their lead in the 29^th minute through another free kick. The ball was played about around the Wednesday area before the Trialist managed to get a shot off. The Sheffield Wednesday keeper then made a decent save which fell as far as the on waiting Moran who reacted quickest to prod the ball home and double Avenue’s advantage.

Wednesday then managed to win a penalty in the 38th minute which was slotted home from twelve yards by Hunt to half the visitor’s deficit, meaning that Bradford went in 2-1 up at half-time.

2^nd Half

Much like the first half, the second half started quietly with neither side being capable of breaking down their oppositions defence.

In the 70^th minute, Bradford managed to breakthrough again through a Trialist. Gardner had a shot, which was deflected across the goal to the Trialist who smashed it home to give Park Avenue a 3-1 lead.

In the 73^rd minute, Andrew produced a brilliant save to preserve Bradford’s second-half clean sheet, which they ultimately managed to do with Sheffield Wednesday failing to make a breakthrough in the second half.

TEAMS

Bradford (Park Avenue)

   1. Jack Bennett (Charlie Andrew 59’)

   2. Ben Hedley

   3. Jake Croft

   4. Jon Moran

   5. Mitch Lund

   6. Sam Wright

   7. Trialist (Alex Hurst 75’)

   8. Lewis Rathbone

   9. Shaun Gardner (Garry Thompson 75’)

   10. Elliot Holmes

   11. Matty Clarke

Unused subs; None

Sheffield Wednesday

    1. Josh Render

    2. Josh Dawodu

    3. Joe West

    4. Alex Hunt

    5. Trialist

    6. Trialist

    7. Jack Stobbs (Fraser Preston 45’)

    8. Connor Kirby

    9.  Omar Damba (Preslav Borokov 59’)

   10. Liam Shaw

   11. Ben Hughes (Jordan O’Brien 59’)

Unused subs; Luke Jackson, Liam Waldock, Charlie Reaney

Cards: None.

Referee: Neil Howlett

Assistants: Ian Thornton, Michael Brownset

Attendance: 234