BRADFORD defender Aran Basi was part of the Station Hotel team that won the Bradford Sunday Alliance League Senior Trophy in a dramatic final.

A fiery game against Westwood Park ended 0-0, before Station prevailed 3-0 on penalties thanks to a golden oldie of a goalkeeper.

Talking us through a dramatic occasion, Basi, who is from Thornbury, said: “My brother Ryan was captain, and it was good to see a bit of local rivalry too.

“They’d been saying how they’d gone something like 21 games unbeaten and putting all that on Facebook, so it was good to get the win.

“Aidan Day, who plays at Campion, got sent off and he’s their most important player, so that worked in our favour too.

“They’d beaten us 2-1 in the group stage a couple of weeks ago, ahead of the semis and final, so it was good to get this one over them in a local match.

“It was brilliant to have so much support on the day too, with all four sides of the ground full.

“It’s been good to have the tournament, as the Saturday football, we had so many months off, then we’d come back and it would then get called off.”

The final was lit up by a couple of elder statesmen in Eccleshill manager Lee Elam and Farsley Celtic back-up goalkeeper Mark Bower.

Basi said: “Lee is a special footballer with so much experience, he led us in the warm-up and it wasn’t like he just played for 10 minutes to stretch his legs either.

“He raises the standard and makes it more professional, so it doesn’t feel like you’re playing Sunday League, it’s more like non-league Saturday football.

“Mark’s our goalkeeper and he’s about 45 now but he was brilliant with his saves in the shootout.”

Elam and Bower have played high up the non-league pyramid, and Basi has moved up too, with his Yorkshire Amateur side promoted on points-per-game from the Northern Counties East League Premier Division into the Northern Premier League East Division.

Basi beamed: “It’s brilliant to have that confirmed after two short seasons. I’m not sure how many games exactly they had to add up, but it was a large amount, so it’s well deserved for us.

“I only played about 45 minutes of that, as I came on for my debut, and then Covid ruined the rest of the season.

“So it’s a 45-minute promotion for me.”

Basi did briefly play for Pontefract Collieries in 2020 but cited the travel involved in his decision to leave.

But Amateur will be in the same division as Pontefract next year, so asked if he is willing to give it another go in a more geographically spaced out league, Basi said: “I’m hoping to make it work, between the travel and my job as a personal trainer.

“I’ve spoken to the managers Neil (Sibson) and Craig (Ogilvie) and I want to get fully sorted with any long away trips.

“I’m 28 now, so I want to test myself at this higher level with this step forward. I only had two games at Pontefract, which wasn’t long enough to be tested.”