Report provided by Edward Taylor
Bradford (Park Avenue) fell to a disappointing 3-1 defeat on the road against high-flying Emley in a Yorkshire derby on Saturday, dealing them a setback in their bid to reach the play-offs.
The affair started relatively cagey, as both sides struggled to carve out any clear-cut chances in the open stages. The hosts would be the first side to cause a serious threat in the 18th minute, as Amir Berchil shrugged off multiple Avenue challenges before firing an effort just wide from the edge of the box.
Not long after going close to taking a slender lead, it would be Emley’s turn to face some Avenue pressure in the 25th minute after the Green Army came agonisingly close to hitting the front.
In a lovely team move that saw Avenue maintain possession for a prolonged period of time, Connor Dimaio picked up the ball in the middle of the park and floated a defence-splitting ball for Sam Straughan-Brown to latch onto, 1-on-1 with the Emley keeper, but the latter’s touch took the ball just too far from him to get a shot at goal.
Avenue would be made to pay for not taking their chance, as a moment of individual brilliance from Hayden Lindley put Emley a goal to the good with 28 minutes played. After a slightly scrappy piece of play, the ball was headed down for Lindley to blast an incredible half-volley past Cam Mason from 25 yards out, dipping into the back of Avenue’s net.
The Green Army’s bad fortunes would continue just 12 minutes later when Keenan Ferguson was given his marching orders after being shown a straight red card by the referee for dragging Berchil to the ground as the Emley-man raced clean through on goal, sending Avenue down to 10 for the rest of the game.
It was a tough end to a tough half for Avenue, as they went into the break a goal and man down.
Emley continued to make life difficult for Avenue after the restart, going close on multiple occasions early on, but Cam Mason was on hand to expertly tip Berchil’s low curling effort wide of the mark before denying Donae Lawrence’s powerful strike from close range not long after.
However, Avenue couldn’t keep Emley at bay for long. As the clock ticked over into the 64th minute, Emley’s lead doubled as Berchil played a ball inside to Belchior Rodrigues who made drove inside the Avenue box and placed the ball in the bottom left corner.
Despite slipping to a 2-goal deficit, Avenue were more than in the game and did not want to go down without putting up a fight. With just 20 minutes left to be played, Jordan Preston controlled a beautiful Connor Dimaio long ball in the hosts’ half and calmly chipped the ball over Emley keeper Declan Lambton, who was in no-man’s-land, giving the travelling Avenue faithful a moment to celebrate and belief their side could get a result.
With everything to play for in the latter stages, Avenue built up a surge of momentum to try find an equaliser, which they were inches away from doing 5 minutes from time. A corner was whipped in towards Ben Blythe at the near post, who caught a volley perfectly before it flashed just wide of the woodwork, causing a gasp of relief in the home end.
However, it just wasn’t meant to be on the day for Avenue, as Emley secured the 3 points through substitute Laurence Sorhaindo’s composed effort in the 89th minute, ending the Green Army’s dreams of a comeback.
The final whistle shortly followed to mark defeat on the road for Avenue, who will next travel to the northeast on Wednesday night to face Heaton Stannington as Craig Elliott’s side look to bounce back with a big away win.
