Bradford (Park Avenue) Reserves 2–1 South Leeds
Scorers: Rico Feltham, Michael Douglas
📍 Horsfall Community Stadium
📅 Friday 19 July 2025
Bradford (Park Avenue) Reserves secured a deserved 2-1 victory over South Leeds last Friday night in an impressive pre-season performance at the Horsfall Community Stadium.
Goals from Rico Feltham and Michael Douglas ensured a dominant display was rewarded with a result that reflected the team’s efforts — and Reserves Manager Owen Murphy was full of praise for his young side.
“Friday night’s result was one we fully deserved,” said Murphy. “So far in pre-season we’ve been on the wrong end of results despite strong performances – barring the Emley game – but this was a different story.
From the first whistle, I felt we controlled the game and were very aggressive, which helped us get on the front foot early. The maturity in the performance really stood out, especially considering how young this team is.”
The Reserves showed their intent from the off, pressing well and moving the ball quickly to dictate the tempo. Their shape, discipline, and execution in and out of possession were key to the result — something Murphy credits to the group’s work in training.
“We played out when needed and did it at pace, and when we had to go long, we did it with precision and had direct runners to get us up the pitch. That’s something I’ve been drilling into the lads from our very first session, so it’s great to see it come together.
On Tuesday in training, we worked hard on how we want to set up out of possession, so I was really pleased with how difficult we were to break down and how few chances we gave away.”
With just one more friendly fixture remaining before the season opener, Murphy sees the performance as a strong indicator of the group’s progress and readiness for the campaign ahead.
“We’ve got one more friendly this Friday – another tough test – and it’s our final chance to get things right before the season opener. Overall, I’m really happy with Friday night’s win and performance. We’re moving in the right direction, and the players are fully on board with how we want to play and the path we’re on.”
The Reserves are back in action this Friday 1st August, taking on Gomersal Cleckheaton at Horsfall Stadium, with kick-off at 7:30pm.