Bradford Park Avenue 0 Salford City 1

IN the days leading up to this game, Paul Scholes had stated that he would rather watch Salford City than Premier League football.

If Saturday’s FA Cup tie is anything to go by, the former Manchester United and England midfielder, who is a part owner of Salford City, must spend a lot of his time watching paint dry.

This was a tie not that hardly belonged in the world’s oldest knockout competition as it lacked passion, urgency and – in truth – quality.

Neither of the sides looked capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck and, consequently, it always looked like one goal would settle things.

James Poole scored the only goal of the game for Salford in the second half - lashing in a shot on the half volley.

Bradford goalkeeper Dan Eccles, who was only playing because Bradford City did not want on loan Joe Cracknell cup-tied, saved a sixth minute penalty awarded for handball.

The defeat cost Avenue any revenue from this season’s FA Cup and it was a second consecutive exit at the hands of Salford who are now National North rivals.

It also made it a dozen games without a win for under pressure Bradford boss Alex Meechan.

The man who took over late into the pre-season said: “I thought we did okay and gave it a real good go against a good side and were in the game throughout.

“Let’s not forget that we were up against a side whose budget is five or six times what ours is. They won it with one moment of class, a great finish from the lad, but that’s what money gets you - players of the quality of Poole.

“We will have to see where we go from here in terms of personnel but there were some positives from the game," he added. "Emile (Sinclair) was good again but we had to take him off after an hour because two games in four days was always going to be too much at this stage and Shane (Killock) played well in a back three that looked really good.”