BRADFORD City Women’s youngsters continued their impressive form on Sunday as the reserves came from two goals down to secure a point at Hull City.

That extended their unbeaten run to six games, with the Bantams really starting to make their mark this season with what is a completely new team.

As well as having a new managerial duo in Toni Butcher and Meg Lawson, the squad is mainly made up of last year’s under-18s side, albeit who have taken to senior football seamlessly.

“The youngsters have been outstanding, I can’t praise them enough,” said Lawson.

“They’ve bought into what we want to do, applied themselves and become key members in the team.

“They’re an absolute pleasure to coach and to see how much they’ve improved is brilliant, shown by Amy (Wood), Lucy (Preston) and Sophie (Moulden) stepping up to the first team on occasions.

Butcher added: “Each player is adding something new to the team and we’ve managed to find a good balance between them and the more experienced players.

“That’s especially rewarding for myself and Meg because we haven’t got 11 players anymore, we have a team.”

Lawson continued: “The older ones deserve a huge mention. They’ve really helped the youngsters step up, and the parents that bring them to every training session, game and social event are brilliant too.

“It’s more like a family, on and off the pitch, regardless of age.”

City are reaping those rewards in their results, with Sunday’s draw disappointing on paper but not considering the way it unfolded.

After two poor mistakes allowed Hull to lead comfortably at the break, Bradford showed fantastic spirit to fight back.

Georgia Southby came off the bench and halved the deficit almost immediately, before another substitute, Preston, teed up Jade Brindle to equalise.

The skipper then added her brace after a great ball through from Emily Cattle, but City were denied three points at the death as Hull made it 3-3 with the last kick of the game.

“The performance wasn’t our best but it showed our strong team morale and spirit,” said Butcher.

With Bradford’s first team to welcome tenth-tier Thackley in the West Riding County Cup on Sunday, the youngsters who stood out once again at Hull could be rewarded, admits player-manager Charlotte Stuart.

“It’s been great for some of the under-18s to have game time with us,” she said. “It’s very important to me and the future of the club.

“A few coming with us again this weekend is certainly on the cards, but we’ll assess our options after training this week.”