Halesowen Town 2 Bradford (Park Avenue) 0

IT was a disappointing night for the men in white as not only did they lose their place in the FA Trophy but also their number one.

Mark Bower's side of youngsters, who had several first team players cup-tied, were defeated by Halesowen after the Southern League Division One Central team provided the moments of quality to edge the contest.

Simeon Cobourne's double at The Grove was enough to award the home side a tie with Maidenhead in the second round of the competition.

Matters were made worse when Joe Green collided with Halesowen's Jamie Molyneux late in the match, forcing the goalkeeper to be stretched off with a leg injury.

After drawing the original first round fixture 2-2, the Bradford boss decided to hand a starting debut to 17-year-old Jamie Lyons in place of the injured Lewis Knight, while it was one Johnson for another as Andre replaced Oli upfront.

The visitors were the better side for the majority of the first half, although they failed to create any noteworthy chances.

Billy Priestley had the only half opportunity with his deflected strike from the edge of the box flicking off one of the Halesowen defenders to go for a corner.

As the fog became more prominent so did the hosts attack and they broke the deadlock on the 37th-minute when Montel Gibson played through Cobourne, who slid it past the on-rushing Green.

Although, Avenue had the lion's share of possession in the freezing conditions, it was the home side who were delighted to go into the break in front.

Halesowen manager Paul Smith must have given an inspiring half-time speech as his players in blue rushed into the ascendancy from the kick-off.

Avenue did create firstly though through Keith Lowe, who was aiming for his second in as many games, striking from over 30 yards but his attempted finish found the goalkeeper's gloves with ease.

Cobourne almost got his second when he eyed up Green once again. However, on this occasion it was the 24-year-old who came out on top, parrying away the forward's strike.

Although five minutes later, the striker regained the upper hand when he produced another tidy finish to create a huge uphill battle for Bradford.

The Yeltz top scorer Gibson had a spree of chances which would have put the game beyond doubt but he was surprisingly wasteful.

The 24-goal finisher broke down the right to force Green into action before charging down the opposite side to give the Bradford shot stopper more problems.

However, Gibson's hot streak was brought to an end when he limped off with 20 minutes to go.

Substitute Oli Johnson almost halved the deficit with an audacious backheel flick which Brendon Bunn had to intervene with a superb tip over.

Then lightning struck for Bower's team as his pivotal stopper collided with the boot of Molyneux to cause an eight-minute stoppage which resulted in Green making way for the vastly-experienced Steve Dickenson.

The 46-year-old had little to do in his brief 15-minute appearance with the hosts more than happy to sit on their lead.

Andre Johnson's 93rd-minute effort summed up Bradford's evening as it miserably rolled out for a goal kick.

The Trophy exit may be a blessing in disguise for Avenue, who can now fully concentrate on National League North survival, starting on Saturday when they travel to sixth-placed Spennymoor Town.

However, Bower will be hoping Green's injury is not as bad as first feared as he awaits news on how long his goalkeeper could be out for.