Bradford Park Avenue 2-3 Steels

Stocksbridge Park Steels beat Bradford Park Avenue for the first time in their history to get into the next round of the FA Cup.

The Steels got off to the best possible start. Good play saw Alex Hardwick got some space and he turned well to avoid a defender. He let fire and beat the BPA keeper at his near post.

Stocksbridge continued to be strong but eventually, Bradford were able to grow into the matches and had some big chances. Their fans believed they had scored after a corner was toepoked towards goal, but the referee believed that Elliot Owen and Harry Garman did enough to stop it crossing the line. Minutes later, Dan Francis had an ideal chance with the ball being played to him on the penalty spot, but he smashed it over.

This worked out very well for Stocksbridge as they were able to go up the other end and score. Jack Tinker looked to break his duck with a long range effort but it got scuffed and turned into a great pass for Danny Deakin, who backheeled the ball into the back of the net.

In the second half, Bradford started to become more and more ambitious in their play. For a while, they struggled to make the break through and it ended up being a traditional ball into the box from deep. Alex Francis was in space without anyone noticing him, and he looped the ball over Garman to put BPA back into the game.

Stocksbridge rallied though to make sure the momentum did not go against them. They could have extended the lead through Jack Haslam on two occasions, but his first close range effort was blocked and his second was scrambled off the line, in a similar way to Bradford being denied in the first half.

However, the Steels were able to kill the game off. Joao Silva broke with pace and he was able to curl the ball around the keeper in expert fashion to make sure Stocksbridge got the three points. BPA were able to get a consolation through Connor Shanks at the end, but most importantly, Stocksbridge are in the hat for the next round.