Albion Sports 1

Seaburn 0

Albion Sports, bidding to be the first Bradford team to win a senior FA competition since Bradford City in 1911, are through to the FA Sunday Cup final.

After one of the greatest victories in the club's history against Seaburn at Marine yesterday, Albion will return to Merseyside on Sunday, April 24 to face old foes Canada Edinburgh Park (formerly A3) at Anfield.

Sports' manager Kully Sandhu was full of praise for his side after they pulled off their against-the-odds victory.

He confessed: "Liverpool isn't the easiest place to come to and it can be intimidating.

"They were really up for it from the first whistle and we had to defend very well, but the lads stuck to the task despite a lot of pressure in the first half.

"But we managed to alter things at half-time. Steve Smith had a super game, and he was only a late inclusion because of a 'dead leg'! Andy Wright was also carrying an injury and with Roy Stamer out, James Nestor, who came on for the last quarter, hadn't played for five weeks."

Sandhu added: "It's up there with some of our big performances and I think it takes the edge over the run to the final in 2000 because this is a relatively new team."

Long-serving central defender Harmit Singh, who has played Sunday football at Albion Sports since he was 16, was the unlikely goal hero as Albion reached the FA Sunday Cup final for the second time in five seasons.

Part of a defence that looked to be hanging on at times, Singh linked up with his forward line for the only time in the game to finish off a breakaway goal.

The winner came eight minutes into the second half, and was enough to give Albion one of the greatest results in their history.

Opponents Seaburn, playing in front of a home crowd, adapted better to the wind and hard pitch, and with their attack shooting from all angles, Albion were under pressure for the first ten minutes.

Goalkeeper Aaron Brian was soon in action, fisting the ball away, and when Albion did manage to get the ball up front to Stefan Zoll, who had obviously been singled out, the Albion striker was consistently fouled.

It wasn't until 25 minutes that Smith and Taj Singh combined for Albion's first effort on goal.

However, missed tackles led to further chances for Seaburn, and their dangerous striker David Lynch hit the bar with another hard shot in the 35th minute.

Zoll and Smith combined well to create a half-chance for Jason Ryan, who was closed down before he could let fly. Albion certainly rode their luck at times and, with their defence over-worked, they were glad to hear the half-time whistle.

Smith and Ryan had never really been in the game in the first half, but after half-time the Albion pattern changed, and when they broke quickly on the left, Harmit Singh joined the attack to put Albion in front.

The goal seemed to lift the Bradford club and a defence which had sometimes proved jittery played with much more assurance.

Seaburn surprisingly substituted Lynch in the 65th minute and ten minutes later Nestor replaced Zoll. The substitute could have finished the game when he lobbed over a defender before putting his second lob wide.

A further chance went to Taj Singh before Seaburn, striving for an equaliser, were thwarted by match-saving tackles from Harmit Singh and Paul Cuthbertson and fine saves from Brian, who never missed a ball.

Frustration eventually set in for the Liverpool team who ended up with five players booked to Albion's two. Defender Asif Hussain won the Carlsberg man of the match award.

Edinburgh Park beat Gossoms End 4-0 in the other semi-final at Buirscough FC.