Garforth Town 1 - Bradford Park Avenue 4

29.1.2008

Garforth missed a vital opportunity to take the initiative in their Unibond promotion push, crashing to third placed Bradford Park Avenue by an emphatic if disproportionate 4-1 deficit in front of their home fans. The Miner’s outfit were narrowly outthought and outfought in an absorbing encounter, as the Bradford club mounted further pressure on league leaders Curzon Ashton, thus increasing the distance between themselves and Garforth.

Bradford immediately pressurised the Garforth defence, taking the ascendancy quick and effectively shellshocking Town. Were it not for the assured defending of Duncan Williams, Mark Piper and captain Brett Renshaw, Avenue would have broken through the resistance early and achieved that which they deserved – an early goal. Avenue grew in confidence, and the marauding Bradford right back could have scored from a long, relatively unchallenged run but for a well timed Williams tackle. Piper and Renshaw each blocked a dangerous low cross and a goal bound shot.

The dominant nature of Avenue’s play led to the Garforth midfield playing further back than perhaps accustomed, subsequently leaving Town striker Jason St Juste isolated upfield. The marooned forward resorted to fruitlessly harrying the Bradford midfield, but to no avail. Garforth’s infrequent first half attacks consisted of hopeful long balls played to St Juste and the aforementioned Piper, but with the strong wind affecting these passes the ball inevitably overran. At one point the crowd were abruptly roused – Williams picked up a stray Avenue pass and ran downfield into the expanse of open space before him; however, the following through ball was intercepted and the ensuing Avenue attack almost led to a goal. A corner saw Town keeper Spratt fumble the ball into the path of Avenue winger Chris Williams, who struck over.

Garforth were, however, unfortunate when a set in stone penalty claim was somehow dismissed by the insufferably pedantic referee, as Carl Simpkins was bundled over in the Bradford area in what would be regarded by police as sufficient for an attempted GBH charge, yet the seemingly imminent penalty kick was not given.

After gargantuan attempts to maintain parity, disaster struck as Duncan Williams tried to dribble the ball out from the edge of the Town penalty area, was tackled, regained the ball and unwisely attempted the same feat, conceding a free kick. Duncan’s Avenue namesake struck a low shot which somehow eluded the wall, the Town defence and the goalkeeper and nestled in the bottom left corner. The goal was unremarkable, unfortunate but somewhat inevitable.

With stranded striker St Juste substituted in favour of a new approach, Garforth began the second half much the stronger side, forcing Avenue onto the back foot and playing with more flair and guile than was on show in the first period of play. After several heartening attacks on the Avenue goal Chris Brown found himself on the ball 25 yards from goal, and with Bradford’s left sided players apparently unwilling to challenge him, duly tried a speculative shot. To the delight of the crowd, the fiercely struck ball soon hit the net of the top left corner, completing what must surely rank as a goal of the season contender.

Garforth were now performing much better, and the crowd numbering hundreds duly responded. Bradford responded to the recurrence of honours even, and countered with incisive attacks, adding to the viewing spectacle of the game. Lewis? of Garforth conceded a free kick and the exellent Chris Williams, who despite playing a side with ties to Brazilian football showed the games most dextrous skills, curled a high ball into the Garforth area, which Chris Gaghan thunderously fired past Parry.

Mark Piper attempted an ambitious through ball to Seb Muddel after the restart, but the Bradford defence proved adept at covering for each other, and continued to do so over the course of thirty minutes. Town continued to try and implement the decisive attack in this period whilst looking to regain equality with Avenue, but paid dearly when a counter-attack caught the advanced Garforth by surprise, and Bradford won a corner. A Bradford header was met by a goalline clearance from Muddel, but which was to no avail as Avenue immediately played the ball wide, and the cross was successfully converted into the net via the head of Stuart Howson. With less than ten minutes to play, battling Town sensed that the day was not theirs.
Garforth rallied but found themselves facing a revitalised Park Avenue buoyed on by their success. With mere minutes left a measured, curled through ball from Bradford caught Town cold, and when keeper Spratt beat the lunging Avenue forward to the ball, the outstretched foot of the attacker caught the shotstopper’s hand, injuring his ligaments. As the agonised keeper fell to the floor, Avenue’s Mike Moseley slotted the ball into the net, thus perhaps unfairly completing the rout. Duncan Williams oversaw the final moments in net, and was lucky not to concede as another Moseley shot struck the post, the final occurrence of note in an eventually intriguing affair whose scoreline suggested otherwise.