It was very disappointing for Spen Valley League players and referees when Kirklees Council decided to cancel all fixtures last weekend – particularly when Friday was dry and Saturday also turned out to be a good day for football.
One or two teams rang on Friday to see if there was any chance of Kirklees changing their mind. The reason given for the blanket ban was to preserve the pitches but neither Leeds Council nor Bradford Council cancelled their games and left the decision to the referees.
Two matches went ahead, Norfolk being prepared to give up home advantage to travel to Bradford to avoid a backlog later in the season.
With Eid the previous weekend, Norfolk didn’t want three weeks without a match as Kirklees Council had also called matches off a fortnight before. This time, Norfolk were rewarded with a point from a 1-1 draw.
Norfolk, having the best of the first half, led 1-0 at half-time but Bradford pulled out all the stops in the second half, equalising early doors through Iftaq Hussain.
Bradford really pressured Norfolk and, but for the brilliance of their keeper Yasser, would have won. Y Pathan scored for Norfolk, for whom Badat was also outstanding.
Sporting Armley beat Wellington 5-0 with goals from Darren Goulden (2), Andi Bellhouse (2) and Aaron Dix. However, it was only 1-0 at half-time.
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