Bradford (Park Avenue) Reserves faced Tyersal in the District Cup, with the fixture originally scheduled for Horsfall. But with the First Team playing at home against Ashington AFC, the game had to be moved to the historic setting of Arkwright Street. The ground where the pitch is now situated gained worldwide fame in 1864 when local athlete Emma Sharp took a bet from a local businessman who claimed that she couldn’t walk 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours. With agreed breaks between walking stints she completed the task between 17th September and 29th October 1864, despite numerous attempts to stop her achieving her goal. She invested her winnings in a rug making factory.
But I digress.
The Reserves teamsheet showed that 12 of 16 named players in the squad were either currently playing in, or have come through after playing in the Academy. A testament if any was needed of the work done by Player/Coach Owen Murphy and his colleagues. Due to injuries, Owen Murphy named himself in the starting eleven which would introduce some necessary experience on a soggy pitch with long grass.
The majority of the first half was largely uneventful, although Avenue seemed the more settled side and despite plenty of effort they failed to find a breakthrough.
However, they were gifted an opportunity to take the lead in the 38th minute when the Tyersal goalkeeper made a rash challenge on Jayden Cuffe, bringing the Avenue forward down inside the box. Cuffe was injured but after treatment, he had recovered sufficiently to convert the resulting penalty. For the initial challenge the home goalkeeper received a yellow card.
Avenue had worked hard for the lead, but everything looked sweeter just before the break when they scored the vital second goal. From just inside his own half, O.Murphy hit a long diagonal free kick that was met by Michael Douglas with a perfectly timed header and the net rippled for a second time to give Avenue a 2-0 half time lead.
The second half began much like the first, but eventually Tyersal got their own opportunity to get back into the contest when they themselves were awarded a penalty. Reuben Armitage brought down a Tyresal forward and although the offence was close to the line of the box, the official, pointed to the spot. Avenue goalkeeper, Luke Morris has an exceptional record when it comes to facing penalties. He saved one last week in the defeat against Otley Town and he repeatedly the feat today when he went down to his left to push the ball wide of the post for a corner.
To add insult to injury, Avenue then went up the other end to score a third goal that effectively wrapped up the tie. M.Douglas, after some great footwork whipped a ball in from the left. Cuffe met it with a powerful header and although the Tyresal custodian got a hand to it he couldn’t prevent it from entering the net.
O.Murphy then rang the changes, replacing Cuffe and Rico Feltham with Josh Owen and Max Walker respectively.
The game meandered before further changes were made, George Elliott, Lucas Shaw and Coby Hayes replacing McKenzie Murphy, Haris Khan and Junior Thokoza, the intention being to give everyone some precious game time.
Avenue saw out the remaining time relatively comfortably and a perfect filip after the loss at Otley Town. Another plus was a first clean sheet of the season for Morris.
The reward for reaching the last eight is a tie against Field Reserves on 21st November.
Match report by David Brewis.