Strong Rotherham side provides another good run out as the seasons nears closer.

1^st Half

The first half started badly for Avenue with Lapado pouncing in the first minute to give the away side an early lead. This lead was then doubled in the 10^th minute after Cresswell got caught on the ball just inside the Avenue half by Wiles, who could only manage to find the post with his effort, however this was then tapped home by Vassell for his first of the evening. 

Bradford’s first half chance of the game came in the 23^rd minute after some good footwork by a Trialist of the left hand side won Avenue a corner, however Avenue didn’t make use of the chance.

In the 27^th minute Rotherham found the net again after a free kick, which wasn’t dealt with by the Bradford (Park Avenue) defence, found Vassell for his second of the game. 

In the 37^th minute good work by Vassell down the Park Avenue right found Proctor in the middle, whose subsequent shot was saved by Andrew. Unfortunately for the Avenue Balsar was at hand to give the visitors a 4-0 lead.

Vassell then completed his hat-trick just before the half-time whistle after finding himself on the end of Olusundae’s cross. 

2^nd Half

Garry Thompson then asked his side for a reaction in the second half, one which they managed to deliver with a much improved performance which saw them win the second half.

The Avenue finally made the breakthrough in the 77^th minute when Gardner managed to get himself on the end of one of the trialists crosses, following on from some decent build up play in the Rotherham half. 

Teams 

Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C 

1. Charlie Andrew (Trialist 65’)
2. Alex Laird (Matty Clarke 64’)
3. Mitchell Lund (Trialist 73’)
4. Jon Moran 
5. Ryan Cresswell (Trialist 45’)
6. Lewis Rathbone (Sam Wright 64’)
7. Alex Hurst 
8. Ben Hedley 
9. Garry Thompson (Holmes 45’)
10. Trialist (Shaun Gardner 73’)
11. Trialist

Unused subs: None

Rotherham United F.C

     12. Lewis Price (Laurence Bilboe 63’)

     22. Matthew Olusundae (Micheal Ihiekwe 65’)

     33. Jake Cooper

     15. Clark Robertson

     31. Akeem Hinds

     8. Ben Wiles

     11. Daniel Barlaser

     17. Matt Crooks

     10. Olayinka Lapado (Carlton Morris 59’)

     9. Jamie Proctor (Micheal Smith 63’)

     19. Kyle Vassell

Unused subs: Billy Jones, Richard Wood, Joe Mattock, Joshua Kayode.

Cards: None

Referee:  Matt Sowerby 

Assistants: Danny Bennett, Paul James

Attendance: 310

3:00 pm kick-off 

July 13, 2019 

Dual Seal Stadium

FT Brighouse 2-3 Bradford 

Garry Thompson’s side travelled to Brighouse for their final away game before the commencement of the 2019/20 season.

The match ended in a 3-2 victory to Bradford (Park Avenue) in a strong hit- out for both teams.

Bradford Park Avenue opened the scoring after three minutes thanks to Sean Gardner who chipped the keeper from an inch perfect pass from Ben Hedley.

Despite conceding, Brighouse continued to keep the pressure on Bradford Park Avenue and made it difficult for them to move the ball about as the play became more fast paced and less structured. This change in pace allowed Ben Hedley to pounce on a loose ball in the Brighouse box that came about from a defensive error and slot it past the Trialist between the sticks.

A Period of possession by the hosts in attack led to a Trialist finding space and firing home to bring the deficit to one goal. Within ten minutes, a piercing cross delivered into the away teams box was met by the head of Carl Stewart who glanced it into the top right corner ten minutes before the halftime whistle.

Park Avenue maintained the lions share of possession during the final 10 minutes before half-time however were unable to create an attack of real danger.

2nd half

Three minutes into the second half a Bradford shot was palmed away by the keeper into the path of a Trialist who gently guided the ball into the bottom corner and capitalised on the handling error. 

Despite the promising start to the half both sides struggled with possession. opportunities were difficult to come by.

Garry Thompson and Shaun Gardner we’re pleased with the performance and combinations being built throughout the squad. And are looking towards the August 3rd fixture at Curzon Ashton to mark the beginning of the season. 

Lineups

Bradford (Park Avenue)

‪1-Charlie Andrew ‬

‪2-Trialist‬

‪3-Matty Clarke‬

‪4-Mitchell Lund‬

‪5-Ryan Cresswell (C)‬

‪6-Trialist‬

‪7-Trialist‬

‪8-Ben Heddley‬

‪9-Shaun Gardner‬

‪10-Elliot Holmes‬

‪11-Trialist‬

‪Subs‬

‪12-Garry Thompson ‬-65’- Shaun Gardner 

‪13-Trialist‬ -65’- Charlie Andrew 

‪14-Lewis Rathbone -62’- Ben Hedley 

‪15-Jon Moran -62’- Ryan Cresswell 

Brighouse Town

1-Trialist

2-Joe Wilkinson (C)

3-Reece Kendall

4-Jack Lazenby

5-Kurt Harris 

6-James Hartley

7-Shiraz Khan

8-Trialist 

9-Trialist 

10-Carl Stewart 

11-Mikey Starkey 

Subs

12-Ousman Cham

13-Trialist 

14-Eddie Church 

15-Trialist

16-Trialist

17-Warren Hildred

18-Trialist 

Stern Stag’s test gives Bradford ideal pre-season preparation 

In a match that at times could have gone either way, Thompson would be pleased with what he has seen giving him a base to build on throughout pre-season.

The first half got off to an uneventful start with Mansfield having the better of the possession however despite a few early corners they failed to make a breakthrough. 

The moment of the half came when, in the 12^th minute, Lewis Knight picked up the ball and produced a spectacular run towards the Mansfield goal-line where, after beating the defender for pace, he cut the ball back to the edge of the six yard box for player-manager Garry Thompson to calmly finish.

Both sides then kept the game at a good tempo, however neither side could manage to make any real clear-cut chances to threaten either of the keepers. Mansfield had a trio of corners in the 32^nd minute however they couldn’t make them pay.

In the 36^th minute following a collision with Lewis Knight, Stokes had to be stretchered off with an injury. Play then resumed in the 43^rd minute however nothing of note took place for the rest of the half.

The start of the second half saw a host of changes for Mansfield as they changed their whole starting eleven. 

The changes clearly had their intended effect when pressure from the Mansfield attack saw Lund put the ball into the back of his own net in the 49^th minute. Minutes later Mansfield took the lead for the first time during the match when a cross in from the Bradford (Park Avenue) left by Maynard found Rose in the 6-yard-box for a simple tap in.

Mansfield then won a free-kick from near the corner flag following a mistimed challenged from one of the trialists.  The resultant free kick was whipped in by Benning who managed to find Maynard unmarked near Avenue’s near post allowing him to head Mansfield into a 3-1 lead in the 61^st minute. 

Following some changes for Bradford they nearly managed to find a way back into the match after Gardner managed to get away a shot from inside Mansfield area, unfortunately this ended up wide of the mark.

Fortunately for Bradford, the second goal wasn’t far away when in the 75^th minute Holmes was able to place his shot in the bottom corner of the Mansfield net, drawing Avenue back into the game following on from some good pressure by the home side. 

The game was however just put out of Bradford’s reach when Maynard slotted past Andrew, who had also come on as second half substitute, to give Mansfield a 4-2 lead in the 83^rd minute. Less than a minute later, the former West Ham striker was through again baring down on Andrew’s goal however this time it was Andrew who came out on top as he managed to deny Maynard while also conceding a corner in the process. 

The game ultimately fizzled out in the last five minutes as both sides battled for possession yet neither really managed to create more chances.

Teams 

Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C 

1. Trialist (C. Andrew 62’)
2. Trialist (A. Laird 62’)
3. Mitchell Lund
4. Trialist 
5. Jon Moran (Trialist 70’)
6. Ben Hedley (E. Holmes 62’)
7. Alex Hurst (Trialist 70’)
8. Lewis Rathbone (Trialist 70’)
9. Garry Thompson (S. Gardner 62’)
10. Lewis Knight (Trialist 45’)
11. Matty Clarke

Unused subs: None

Mansfield Town F.C 

     31. Aidan Stone (C.Logan 45’)

     2. Hayden White (J. Clarke 45’)

     4. Matt Preston (K. Pearce 45’)

     6. Neal Bishop (L. Gibbens 45’)

     10. Otis Khan (Benning 45’)

     19. Andy Cook (O. Sterling-James 45’)

     30. Alistair Smith (J.Mellis 45’)

     46. Jason Law (W. Tomlinson 45’)

     47. Jimmy Knowles (C. Hamilton 45’)

     49. Noah Stokes (N. Maynard 45’)

     17. Ryan Sweeney (D. Rose 45’)

Unused subs: T. Sinclair, T. Fielding

Cards: None

Referee: S. Barrott

Attendance: 246

FULL TIME SCORE 2-2

Fitzwilliam Stadium

3:00pm Kick off

July 6^th 2019

Bradford Park Avenue made the trip to the outskirts of Wakefield to the Fitzwilliam Stadium, home to the Hemsworth Miners for the first game of both sides’ pre-season. The afternoon ended in a draw with plenty of positives to be taken away and reflected in both dressing rooms.

Garry Thompson took the opportunity to see how his players and trialists performed given solid game time, opting to field two very different sides for each half.

Hemsworth began well dominating early possession leading to Sydney Cantos finding creating a one on one with Charlie Andrew,however he fired left of goal.

Bradford side began to warm into the game with Ben Hedley and Matty Clarke particularly strong in Mid-Field.

Hemsworth took the lead before halftime with a well taken header by  Viggars who was unmarked at the far post.

After the conceded goal, Bradford park avenue lifted the tempo and a long switch pass from Ben Hedley before halftime was delivered into the box for trialist Brad Dockerty whose deflected shot earned him a goal on visiting his home club.

HALFTIME – Hemsworth Miners 1-1 Bradford (Park Avenue)

Charlie Andrew made a number of good saves in the first half whilst Jon Moran , Ben Hedley and Matty Clarke all gave solid first appearances for Bradford.

The second half saw Bradford more dominant in possession, making a concerted effort to play out from the back and increase the tempo. One of these moves saw Lewis Knight find himself one on one with the Hemsworth ‘keeper before turning inside and out and slotting his shot to take the lead for the visitors.

Mitchell Lund made several important challenges as Hemsworth replied before a lovely team goal from Hemsworth was finished by Adam Knight

FULLTIME – Hemsworth Miners 2-2 Bradford (Park Avenue)

Both Managers were pleased with their sides in the first hit-out of the season. Garry Thompson reported his side was injury free and looking forward to next weeks first home pre season fixture against Mansfield Town.

Line-ups 

First half

GK-Charlie Andrew

RB-Trialist

CB-Trialist

CB-Jon Moran

LB-Alex Laird

CDM-Lewis Rathbone

CM-Trialist

CM-Ben Hedley

CAM-Alex Hurst

ST-Trialist

ST-Trialist

Second half 

GK-Charlie Andrew

CB-Alex Laird

CB-Trialist

CB-Mitchell Lund

CM-Trialist

CM-Trialist

CAM-Elliot Holmes

RM-Trialist

LM-Matthew Clarke

ST-Lewis Knight

ST- Garry Thompson