Bradford City teens impress in win at Bradford (Park Avenue)

The squad was full of teenagers due to the first-team being out in Austria, but they more than held their own against the men they were up against.

It was a far more even game than the scoreline suggested, but it was hardly a smash and grab, just that the Bantams finished their chances and Avenue failed to.

Avenue striker Patrick Sykes had the first half-chance, looping a header straight at visiting keeper George Lord, but City looked enterprising from the off.

Bilal Hussain hassled and almost dispossessed Avenue keeper Craig Ellison for a bizarre opener and the Bantams did take the lead inside the opening 10 minutes with a picture book goal.

The ball was spread wide nicely to captain Lewis Boney, who sent Joel Martin in down the line.

He drilled the ball in low from the left for No.11 Hussain to sweep the ball past Ellison first time and open the scoring.

Bilal Hussain charges off to celebrate putting City into an early lead. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Avenue looked brightest down their right through Kareem Hassan-Smith and Oli Norman, but their best chance in the opening quarter of the game came from a City error.

Franklin Denison was extremely lucky not to concede a penalty, after he was caught dallying on the edge of his own box.

He was robbed by Connor Dimaio and appeared to blatantly tug the Avenue midfielder's shirt but the referee waved play on.

The hosts almost got over that perceived injustice straight away when Norman bundled past Boney down the right, only to send his cross shot zipping across the face of Lord’s goal.

Lord then claimed a testing free kick decisively, but he nearly made a catastrophic error just after the half-hour mark.

He wandered out of his goal with the ball, but before he could launch it up field, Sykes tackled him and the ball broke to Norman 35 yards out.

He lobbed it over the despairing keeper and the covering Leon Brooks, but the ball cleared the crossbar by barely an inch and went out for a City goal kick.

It was the Bantams who had the next big chance, as Hussain was sprung clear down the right by Mahmoud Mohammed, but his whipped left footed effort from inside the box was well saved low down by Ellison.

City make another error at the back just before half-time with a stray pass across their own box, but Lord bailed out his defence expertly, spreading himself superbly to save as Norman looked to dink it over him.

Norman won a couple of early free kicks as Avenue dominated the start of the second half, and they came agonisingly close to levelling the scores on 55 minutes.

Dan Francis, the former City player, just beat Boney to the ball in a scramble inside the box, but he could only prod it against the post and visitors hacked clear.

Norman won a free kick on the edge of his own box moments later, but swept it over the bar when perhaps Harry Colville was the better option with his left foot.

But poor free-kicks aside, Norman was causing the Bantams all manner of problems.

Sykes fed their tormentor-in-chief and he appeared to be clipped by Boney as he drove into the box, but the appeals for a penalty were more muted than those earlier for the challenge on Dimaio and the referee waved play on.

City tried to hit back and Kieron Mboma and newly-introduced Zante Rose-Campbell conjured up half-chances which were just missing a finish.

But it was another substitute who was the architect of City’s late second goal.

The move started with some lovely feet from Denison, who looked increasingly confident on the ball as the game wore on, and he fed Ryan Eli in the middle.

He had not had too much chance to show off since coming on for Martin after the break, but here he unleashed a rocket shot from 25 yards out which beat the recently-introduced Avenue stopper Ed Hall all ends up and crashed back off the bar.

The keeper could not get to his feet in time and the onrushing Mohammed bundled the loose ball home from a yard out.

Mahmoud Mohammed runs in to score a second for the Bantams last night. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Avenue substitute Onyeike Nimely almost responded instantly, as he showed quick feet to pick his way through a crowded box with a loose ball, sliding his shot beyond Lord but also just past the post.

And Avenue kept pushing, with Sykes powering Norman's deep corner back across goal, only for it to hit the crossbar.

But instead it was City who scored the third goal of the game, with what was the last kick of the match.

Max Murray was sprung away down the right, and he slid the ball across to substitute Cameron Park, who swept it home from six yards out past the onrushing Hall.

It meant City’s youngsters reclaimed the Tom Banks Memorial Trophy in style.

BPA: Ellison, Hassan-Smith, D. Francis, Tiffany, A. Francis, Whelan, Norman, Dimaio, Sykes, Crosby, Colville. Subs: Coldwell, Hall, D’Sena, Onyeike, Varley, Trialist, Trialist, Waterhouse, Swales.

CITY XI: Lord, Murray, Boney, Denison, Trialist, Brooks, Thompson, Mboma, Martin, Hussain, Mohamad. Subs used: Eli, Rose-Campbell, Paul, Ayub.

BANTAMS MAN OF THE MATCH: MAX MURRAY.