Report provided by Edward Taylor
Bradford (Park Avenue) picked up a pivotal 3-0 home win over fellow play-off contenders Stocksbridge Park Steels, as goals from Jordan Preston, Connor Shanks and Paddy Sykes secured back-to-back victories for the Green Army in their bid to close the gap on the top 5.
Avenue controlled the fixture from the very start of proceedings, with Connor Shanks particularly causing the Steels trouble early on. The number 10 went close to breaking the deadlock twice in the opening stages- his outside of the box effort forced Steels goalkeeper Ben Townsend into a fine save to parry the strike away inside 5 minutes, and then just 7 minutes later he saw another attempt go agonisingly wide of the visitors’ post.
After a positive start to proceedings, the Greens weren’t disheartened by their early chances going begging and broke the deadlock in the 25th minute, giving them a deserved lead. Jordan Preston’s low ball into a central area of the box was only partially cleared towards Connor Dimaio and the midfielder lined up a thunderous effort which was deflected back into the path of Preston, who created his own space towards the right-hand side of the penalty area and chipped a fine finish into the far corner to make it 1-0.
Just 7 minutes after taking the lead, Avenue came close to doubling their advantage as Shanks weaved his way through multiple Stocksbridge Park Steels defenders before seeing his shot parried out for a corner.
However, it wouldn’t be long before Avenue and Shanks would celebrate taking a 2-0 lead. In the 37th minute, Shanks pounced on a loose pass from Stocksbridge defender Tom Charlesworth just inside Avenue’s half, before racing through on goal and coolly slotting a 1-on-1 effort past Townsend to give his side a 2-goal cushion heading into the break.
Back underway from the half-time interval, Stocksbridge Park Steels came out of the break with the intent to put the pressure on the Green Army early in opening stages of the half, but Avenue remained strong throughout the period and came out unscathed.
In the 64th minute, Avenue were rewarded the fruits of their defensive labour earlier in the half as they put the game beyond the reach of the visitors with a 3rd goal of the afternoon. Jak McCourt whipped in a beautiful free-kick in from the right-hand side of the penalty area towards the front post which met the head of Paddy Sykes, who flicked a lovely header into the bottom right corner.
The scoreline could have been even more satisfying for the Green Army, but Iyrwah Gooden had his goal 3 minutes from time disallowed for offside, denying the hosts of back-to-back 4-0 wins.
Avenue shot-stopper Cam Mason was called into action for the first time of the afternoon in the dying moments of the game, as he preserved a clean-sheet to accompany the win after making a great save to deny Oliwier Grzelak’s low effort.
The referee’s whistle followed shortly afterwards, signifying a massive 3 points for Craig Elliott’s side who now sit within 6 points of a playoff spot.
Avenue will travel to high-flying Emley next Saturday, as they look to continue their good form in the race for promotion.