Bradford Park Avenue 1 Hednesford Town 0

A SUBLIME finish from Bradford skipper Nathan Hotte earned his side another vital victory as promotion-chasing Hednesford Town lost their first game in eight and their discipline.

The Pitmen had won six and drawn one in a run that had lifted them up to third place in the Vanarama Conference North but at Horsfall Stadium they came up against a side who have suddenly hit title-winning form themselves.

Bradford were second bottom just over a week ago but Saturday’s victory means they now have a three-point cushion between themselves and the drop zone, with games in hand.

The defeat against a side battling against relegation was a tough pill to swallow for the visitors and their frustration was visible. They constantly harangued the referee, picked up yellow cards for verbal abuse, had their manager sent to the stands and finished with ten men after Richard Batchelor was red-carded in stoppage time.

Bradford boss John Deacey was a contented man. He said: “I’m delighted that we kept our disciple and didn’t get drawn into what they were doing. They were trying to turn it into a battle of wills but we were strong enough to keep our composure.

“They were ill-disciplined and even their manager got sent off and I think what they were doing worked against them because they lost sight of what they wanted to achieve.

“They came here looking to win a football match but they got side-tracked by their own tactics when they were trying to come from a goal down. We stayed calm and that allowed us to keep our concentration.

“We came through another difficult game and we’ve taken ten points from 12 so we’ve given ourselves a chance but there is still a long way to go and a lot to do.”

Avenue started positively and had the ball in the net after just six minutes. The Pitmen conceded a free-kick near the corner flag and Alex Pursehouse whipped it in deep, Ryan Qualter meeting it with a powerful header which was going in. His centre back partner Billy Priestley decided to make sure and glanced it into the net but he was in an offside position so it was chalked off.

However, they didn’t have a long wait before the deadlock was broken. A swift passing move in the 11th minute finished with Hotte taking the ball into the corner of the area and he drilled in an angled drive just before Town’s Ben Bailey could launch himself to block the shot.

Bradford’s Luke Dean was the first name in the referee’s book. He made a rash challenge just inside his own half and the resulting free-kick led to Nick Rushton heading just over John Danby’s goal.

Hednesford had spells of pressure but Danby was not overworked. In fact, it was Avenue who created the better of the opportunities throughout the game.