BRADFORD (Park Avenue) bowed out of the FA Trophy at the first hurdle as Farsley Celtic earned the derby bragging rights at the Horsfall Stadium.

Farsley had taken a two-goal lead through Bobby Johnson and Kian Scales, before a first professional goal for Will Lancaster saw the game end a narrow 2-1.

Two sides who have fared similarly so far this season, Bradford fell to a narrow defeat after a consolation goal from Lancaster brought the game to a nervy conclusion.

Boss Mark Bower had bolstered the options of his Avenue squad in midweek, bringing in forward Jordan Preston on loan from Spennymoor Town.

 

Bower said: “Obviously the result wasn’t what we were looking for.

“I thought the game as a whole, Farsley had a few bodies missing, we started the game quite well and kept the ball quite well.

“We got really deep and after a good turn they caught us on the break, and whilst we were quite slow at times I thought we worked it quite well and got into some good areas. We had to be patient.

“We had some good chances and Brad (Dockerty) got a one-on-one, that’s what it’s like in situations like that, your chances might be far and fair between but you’ve got to take them and unfortunately we didn’t.”

Bower named one change from the previous weekend’s goalless draw with Alfreton Town, as Simon Richman replaced Adam Nowakowski.

Avenue started off the better side after a harmless strike from Farsley’s Johnson, as Jacob Blyth looked to add to his tally but his strike was tremendously parried by Max Dearnley in goal.

Dearnley’s been receiving praise recently as the Farsley goalkeeper, and he was on form again as he made a low stop to deny Brad Dockerty from opening the scoreline.

And on the brink of half time, Farsley took the lead. Following a foul on Carlton Ubaezuono, Johnson stepped up and hammered home a free-kick from 25-yards out, catching George Sykes-Kenworthy and the Avenue wall out.

Heading into the second half, Farsley looked to double their lead as Tom Allan’s header found Ubaezuonu on the edge, but his powerful effort fell just wide of the target.

Ubaezuonu was at the heart of everything for the Celts, and was once again causing problems as he cut inside of Reece Staunton and saw his low strike stopped by Sykes-Kenworthy.

Scales was eager to get on the scoresheet too against another former City man, but his curling effort was acrobatically kept out once again from Sykes-Kenworthy.

But it wouldn’t be long before Sykes-Kenworthy was beaten again, as Ubaezuonu leaped higher than the goalkeeper’s reach and won the ball back, to allow Scales to calmly prod home from close-range.

Avenue would look to get back into the game through Jamie Spencer, but a major deflection saw his strike fizz just wide.

But with just minutes left, and just a consolation, Barnsley loanee Lancaster tucked home a parried shot. Bradford weren’t to spark any memorable comeback however, as Bower’s side miserably tumbled out of the FA Trophy.

Avenue are next in action on Tuesday night, as Bower’s team make the trip to newly-promoted Banbury United.