HARR0-WING EXPERIENCE!
Young Bantams are punished
FREE-SCORING Harrogate Town put seven goals past a very youthful looking Bradford City side at The CNG Stadium.
Dom Knowles, Jack Emmett and Aaron Williams all claimed two each, while Jack Muldoon also got his name on the score sheet.
After finding themselves 6-0 down at the break, the Bantams did manage to pull two goals back, but Town’s manager Simon Weaver was still more than happy with his side’s display.
He said: “I was pleased with the afternoons work, everyone put in a really honest shift and played with great intensity, which is just what we wanted.
“We saw some fantastic attacking play and were really pleased with the goals we scored.”
Bradford had named a surprisingly young side, with former Town loanee Ellis Hudson among the starting line-up.
It was almost a perfect start for Town as Knowles flashed wide of the post in the opening ten seconds, though Town’s in form striker only had to wait another five minutes to open the scoring.
Liam Kitching’s header from George Thomson’s free-kick was only tipped into the path of Knowles by George Sykes-Kenworthy, who gratefully made it seven games in a row on the score sheet.
Emmett soon added to the score line after collecting a ball over the top of the defence unopposed and lifting the ball over Sykes-Kenworthy into the empty net; taking a clattering from the Bantams keeper in the process.
The knock clearly wasn’t serious though as Emmett was at it again five minutes later, this time finding the top left corner via the outside of the post with an impressive finish.
At 3-0 up, Town didn’t let up as Muldoon got himself in on the act, tapping home a low cross from the right from a couple of yards on the half hour mark.
The hosts were steamrolling their opponents at an alarming rate and scored a fifth goal when Emmett was afforded too much space on the left and rolled the ball into the path of Knowles to convert.
Four minutes later, Summer signing Williams found the net for the second pre-season game running as the former Brackley man headed Muldoon’s clipped cross in at the back post.
Fourteen second half minutes passed without a goal, before Bradford clawed one back as Tyrell Robinson escaped down the left and centred for Tom Clare to finish easily.
Clare claimed a second seven minutes later after closing down a slack pass from goalkeeper James Belshaw and rolling into an empty net.
There was no doubt it had been a better second half showing from the young Bantams, but it was Town who claimed the final goal of the afternoon as Williams acrobatically turned in Callum Howe’s header to seal an emphatic win.