Ashford Town 3 Bradford City 0

Jamie Lawrence has been called many things down the years but you can bet centre forward isn’t one of them.

Lawrence was a huge favourite at Valley Parade for the way he would run through brick walls in City’s cause in midfield or on the wing.

But last night Ashford’s player/manager faced his old club up front. He was playing the Cyrille Regis role – at least that’s how he’d talked it up beforehand.

Now 40, the pace may have disappeared, but Lawrence still looks as fit as a butcher’s dog.

And fittingly, in a game that he was so proud to have arranged, he steered Ashford to victory and got himself on the scoresheet courtesy of a goalkeeping howler from Lloyd Saxton.

Peter Taylor insists that pre-season results do not matter but throw in a couple of injuries and this was a day to forget.

The omens had not been good. The Friday afternoon crawl on the M25 meant it had taken City over three hours to reach Middlesex from their hotel and four players stayed behind.

Gareth Evans was ill while Shane Duff and Jon McLaughlin were nursing minor knocks from the Canvey game.

Trialist David Syers was another casualty after leaving the Brockway Stadium on crutches with damaged tendons in a foot.

With numbers down, Taylor used the opportunity to trial 6ft 5in striker Fola Onibuje.

The 25-year-old Nigerian has dotted around clubs, including Barnsley and a month’s loan at Huddersfield in 2003. Last season, he was playing in the Blue Square Premier at Grays.

He partnered Chris Simm in a mix-and-match first-half side which featured only three recognised first-team starters, Omar Daley, Lee Bullock and Luke Oliver.

McLaughlin’s absence meant a full game in goal for Saxton and Junior Lewis got his second outing of the week in place of Duff.

But Saxton was helpless to prevent Ashford grabbing a 13th-minute lead. James O’Brien got his head to Yassa Arafat’s corner but as the clearance dropped, Ashford defender Russell Canderton drilled it back through the wall of bodies into the bottom corner.

Onibuje should have equalised ten minutes later after Omar Daley showed Davis Haule a clean pair of heels with a blistering run. But the big man contrived to fluff the gift at the far post.

Daley was taking on Ashford single-handed at times and fired into keeper Lee Pearce’s chunky midriff before trying to scrabble the rebound over the line.

City’s frustration was bubbling and Bullock had a pop at Simm for failing to control his pass.

Ashford’s tackles were on the competitive side and Taylor winced when Lawrence went in strongly on Luke O’Brien. James O’Brien also took a clatter from Haule.

The Bantams emerged unscathed and, for the first time in pre-season, the same 11 came out for the restart.

But a blunder from Saxton immediately handed Ashford a second. The keeper tried to go round Lawrence but lost the ball in a tackle, leaving the home gaffer with an empty net to fill.

It was a bad error from the young keeper, who has already had one or two nervy moments in the earlier friendlies.

Onibuje failed to direct a close-range header and that was the cue to call for the cavalry. Only James O’Brien and the jittery Saxton stayed on as nine subs arrived.

James Hanson and Jake Speight were paired together for the first time in attack – a partnership that City will be banking on to deliver the goals this season.

But Ashford nearly had a third when newly-arrived substitute Rob Curtis, bearing a close resemblance to Bulls ace Jamie Langley, got in between the two centre halves.

Leon Osborne’s game had lasted only 12 minutes when he hobbled off, Lewis returning to the fray because all the other starters had warmed down and were in the showers.

The City coach, now playing left midfield, was in the thick of the action.

Having started with a wayward 25-yard drive, he had a header from Simon Ramsden’s corner cleared off the line and then crossed for Hanson to knock across goal.

City looked to up the pressure and Scott Neilson was denied by a good save. But the scoreline took on an embarrassing look when Scott Todd bobbled a shot inside Saxton’s right post for a third Ashford goal.

Speight was unlucky not to reduce the arrears. His shot on the turn was brilliantly pushed over by Pearce and then he had several stabs at a loose ball that just refused to go in from a couple of yards out.

Hanson also went off limping before the end to leave Taylor with another headache before the tour finishes this afternoon at Chelmsford.

CITY (first half): Saxton, Hunt (Ramsden 53), L O’Brien (Threlfall 53), Bullock (Adeyemi 53), Lewis (Rehman 53), Oliver (Williams 53), Daley (Neilson 53), J O’Brien, Onibuje (Hanson 53, Oliver 82), Simm (Speight 53), Horne (Osborne 53, Lewis 65).