City retained the Tom Banks Memorial Trophy with a victory - on penalties - against near neighbours Bradford (Park Avenue) in their penultimate pre-season friendly.
After a goalless 90 minutes in the annual Bradford derby, a nail-biting shoot-out saw the Bantams prevail to take the silverware.
Gary Bowyer’s side controlled large parts of the first-half and could have taken the lead in the opening half-hour, had Omari Patrick done better when one-on-one with home goalkeeper Charlie Andrew.
The visitors were awarded a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 73rd minute, when under-18s substitute Connor Shanks was bundled over inside the penalty area.
Zeli Ismail, making his first appearance in claret and amber since signing last month, clipped the outside of the post with his spot-kick and the score remained 0-0.
Former City ‘History Maker’ Garry Thompson - now player-manager of the hosts - scored the first penalty to put his side in front.
A series of misses then ensued, with Ismail again failing to hit the target and Richard O’Donnell making two stops to keep the score at 1-0.
A Jake Croft miss for Park Avenue, sandwiched in-between two converted efforts from under-18s pair Eliot Goldthorp and Connor Morris, handed Reece Staunton the opportunity to win it for the Bantams.
The 17-year-old made no mistake from 12 yards, sending his penalty high into the top-left corner to claim the trophy.
Bowyer’s men partake in their final pre-season outing this coming Saturday (July 27) away at Rochdale (3.00pm).
CITY: Richard O'Donnell; Joe Riley, Anthony O'Connor (Finn Cousin-Dawson 78’), Jackson Longridge, Ethan Sefton (Reece Staunton 78’); Luca Colville (Connor Shanks 61’), Danny Devine (c), Jermaine Anderson (Eliot Goldthorp 46’); Caelin Rooney (Zeli Ismail 61’), Omari Patrick (Connor Morris 78’), Connor Wood.
PARK AVE: Charlie Andrew (Jack Bennett 46’); Jake Croft, Trialist (Trialist 63’), Jon Moran, Trialist (Lewis Rathbone 63’); Matty Clarke, Ben Hedley (Sam Wright 63’), Mitchell Lund (c), Alex Hurst; Shaun Gardner (Garry Thompson 63’), Trialist (Elliot Holmes 46’).
PENALTIES:
Park Ave: Thompson (scored), Clarke (saved), Hurst (saved), Croft (missed), Holmes (scored).
City: Ismail (missed), Shanks (saved), Goldthorp (scored), Morris (scored), Staunton (scored).
REFEREE: Michael Brownsett.