Emirates FA Cup third qualifying round: Harrogate Town 0 Bradford Park Avenue 0

BRADFORD Park Avenue and Harrogate Town will have it all to do again tomorrow night after playing out a goalless draw at the CNG Stadium in the Emirates FA Cup third qualifying round.

By then the winner of the replay will know who they face in the final qualifying round - and where - after tomorrow lunchtime draw.

If the initial meeting is anything to go by, Avenue versus Town mark two will be difficult to predict.

Simon Weaver’s Harrogate are leaders of Vanarama National League North - seven places higher than Mark Bower’s Avenue - but there was little to chose between the sides on the 3G pitch at Wetherby Road on a very wet Saturday.

Bower said: “We’ve come away from home to a team top of our league and played on a surface that we’re not used to, and yet we’ve got them back to our place for the replay.

“We’re pleased with the effort from our players and we’re still in the draw. It was a good clean sheet against a side that scores a lot, especially at home.

"We came with a plan to frustrate them and we were probably the most likely to score late on. In fact we’re a bit disappointed not to get the win.”

Avenue will have a chance to finish the job at home tomorrow night but Harrogate will also have picked up a few pointers about their opponents following the first meeting between the clubs this term.

It was Town who fired the first shots in anger as the tie, which was by no means a classic, got underway but Avenue keeper Steve Drench was alert as the home side sought an early opener to calm the nerves.

The visitors’ first threat came from Adam Boyes, but he was denied by home keeper James Belshaw before Town felt they had a strong penalty claim.

Defender Terry Kennedy went to ground as the players wrestled in the Avenue area at a set-piece but the referee wasn’t interested in the home side’s protests.

Drench was called on again as he palmed away a good effort from George Thompson, but Javan Vidal fired just over as Avenue created a chance later in the first half.

Thompson shot over, from a rare clear opening, early in the second half, and Town went even closer as Warren Burrell hit the bar midway through the second half.

The best Avenue chances fell to Boyes in the last ten minutes of the game but his radar was just off as his efforts flew narrowly wide, and Drench did well to thwart Ryan Fallowfield and Thompson.

After a game that neither side deserved to win, Town boss Weaver said: “I was happy with the concentration, especially at the back. There were some big performances from the lads and we’re looking forward to the replay.”