Wednesday 15 July 2009
Pre-Season Friendly
Bradford (Park Avenue) 0
Bradford City 2 (M Boulding 46, Hanson 52)
Kick Off: 7.45pm
at Horsfall Stadium

Attendance: 1963

Former Huddersfield Town skipper Andy Holdsworth was the latest to hop on board City's trialist bandwagon.

The 25-year-old, who played over 250 games with the Terriers, rejected a new deal after being told by Lee Clarke he would only be a squad member.

Holdsworth had featured most recently as a right back but plays in midfield - the area that Stuart McCall needs to beef up.

McCall said: "He's got a good energy about him and can play on the centre and right side as well, like Nicky Law."

Whether Holdsworth, who crossed for the second goal, could be squeezed into City's tight budget is debatable but McCall has to keep looking.

At the other end of the scale, bleach-haired Joe Keehan from Blue Square Premier wooden-spoonists Lewes also got 45 second-half minutes in midfield after a recommendation from Michael Standing.

McCall again fielded everyone available but there were a couple of notable absentees.

Paul Arnison is training with Colin Todd's Darlington as he looks to get back up to the north-east, while Chris Brandon, whose future remains up in the air, took a knock in training but should be okay for Saturday.

Trialist Jamie O'Brien also hopes to feature at York after sitting it out with a bruised calf.

Peter Thorne was back, though looking understandably rusty as he wasted a close-range header - the best chance of the opening half.

The bobbly pitch proved a hindrance to both sides but it did not seem to bother Joe Colbeck, who embarked on several darting runs and was by far the pick of the first-half bunch.

Keeper Alan Mannus almost gifted Avenue an opener when he was stranded in no-man's land, one-time Oldham frontman Chris Hall nearly capitalising from distance.

Mannus was hoping for more action after seeing little of the ball against Burnley. But the Northern Ireland international was not too convincing dealing with crosses.

Colbeck aside, there were few lively moments in the opening half for a good-sized crowd.

But the City majority only had to wait 30 seconds for the newly-arrived line-up to strike. Big James Hanson flicked on and then it was all about Michael Boulding with a classy individual finish at the near post.

Hanson the provider then became the scorer for number two with a sweet header from Holdsworth's corner after 52 minutes.

Hanson, who bagged two at Avenue for Guiseley last season, almost doubled his tally from a Luke Sharry cross as City mark two turned the screw.

Boulding has come bursting out the pre-season blocks so far and forced a flying save from Steve Dickinson after letting rip from 25 yards. Then another shot on the turn whistled narrowly wide.

His partnership with Hanson was causing loads of trouble for Lee Sinnott's part-timers, who threw on one-time City loanee Harpal Singh on the left side.

At the back, first-choice pairing Matt Clarke and Zesh Rehman were seeing their first action together.

They kept the door shut pretty tight, although Matt James was not far away with a low drive past the left post.

Mannus could have had an assist with an enormous clearance which Dickinson headed straight out to Luke Sharry from the edge of the penalty area. But the youngster opted to take a touch and the opportunity was gone.

Avenue right back Steve Downes then embarrassed his keeper by chesting the ball past him and towards his own goal, just recovering in the nick of time to avoid presenting Rory Boulding with a tap-in.

There was a late scare for City when Clarke bashed heads with Jamie Bairstow. The centre half needed treatment and came off with a huge lump of skin hanging over his eye.

He then had to go to hospital for stitching up the wound, which will definitely prevent him from playing against York.

However, despite Clarke's absence, City remained on the front foot and Dickinson was called into action again to hang on to another well-struck Boulding effort.

BRADFORD (PARK AVENUE)	BRADFORD CITY
1 Steve Dickinson	1 Alan Mannus
2 Steve Downes	2 Simon Ramsden
3 Chris Stabb	3 Luke O'Brien
4 John Groom	4 Jordan Hadfield
5 James Knowles	5 Steve Williams
6 Amjad Iqbal	6 Grant Smith
7 Andy Liddell	7 Joe Colbeck
8 Matt James	8 Lee Bullock
9 Chris Hall	9 Gareth Evans
10 Mark Bett	10 Peter Thorne
11 Roy Stamer	11 Leon Osborne
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
12 Tom Birch	12 Jonathan Bateson for 2 (46)
13 John Smith	13 Matthew Convey
14 Tom Claisse for 7 (73)	14 Zesh Rehman for 5 (46)
15 Lawrence Hunter for 4 (66)	15 Andy Holdsworth for 11 (46)
16 Harpal Singh for 10 (62)	16 Louis Horne for 3 (46)
17 Jordan Missin for 11 (62)	17 Luke Sharry for 7 (46)
18 Jamie Bairstow for 8 (82)	18 Matthew Clarke for 6 (46)
19 Dave Cyrus for 5 (55)	19 Joe Keehan for 4 (46)
20 Simon Ainge	20 Rory Boulding for 8 (46)
	21 Michael Boulding for 9 (46)
	22 James Hanson for 10 (46)
	23 Luke Dean for 18 (85)

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	R Madley
Assistant Referee	L Johnson
Assistant Referee	J Waters
4th Official

GOALSCORERS:
BRADFORD (PARK AVENUE)	BRADFORD CITY
	M Boulding (46)
	Hanson (52)
	.