The team who nearly didn't enter the FA Sunday Cup were propelled into the final by the man who shouldn't have been on the field yesterday.

Albion Sports manager Kulwinder Singh revealed in his team's jubilant dressing room after the match that he was about to substitute skipper Richard Clarke when he went upfield and flung himself full length to head home Tariff Hussar's inswinging corner.

And he also confirmed that his club's players had questioned if it was even worth entering the cup at the start of the season because they had made so little progress in the past.

"We had to persuade them to have a go," confirmed West Riding County FA President Colin Taylor.

Singh added: "We are really glad we did now. I thought winning the British Asian Championship at Celtic in September was our greatest moment but this beats it.

"This is a marvellous achievement. We are proud to be the first Bradford club to make the final."

Clarke, voted man of the match for his towering performance, could hardly believe his luck when the chance to settle a close game came his way.

"They were marking tight at set pieces and I was being marked by their centre half who seemed to have springs in his boots," Clarke said. "I can remember the ball being swung over and a group of players going for it at the near post, but they all missed it and I just dived in to head home.

"I was particularly pleased because there were kids from Holy Trinity School in Halifax where I teach cheering me on."

Until Clarke's timely intervention it looked as if we were in for extra time or even penalties. There was little to choose between the sides and few chances. The best ones fell to Albion with striker Taj Singh and tireless midfielder Paul Forest both forcing excellent saves from Gary Price.

Grosvenor found it hard to make any headway against an Albion defence which has not yielded a goal in six matches.

Clarke was a tower of strength while full backs Nigel Beck and the accomplished Ishfaq Hussain ensured there was no threat from the flanks.

It was quite a weekend for Beck. On Saturday night he prepared for the big game by playing in a celebrity doubles match with top stars Steve Davis and John Virgo in the Telegraph & Argus Regal Snooker Challenge at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre.

He was a loser then. "My snooker wasn't very good," he admitted. "But this win has made up for it."

Albion Sports: Hawkes, Beck, Ishfaq Hussain, Harmit Singh, Clarke, Basra (Iqbal 46), Ryan, Forest, Pavan Singh (Archer 89), Tariq Hussain, Taj Singh.

Grosvenor Park: Price, Warrican (M Dale), Slide, Brown, Merchant, Perkins, Amory, A Dale (Feasey 78), Anifowose, Powis (Welburn).

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.