Bradford Park Avenue and Harrogate Town fought out a goalless war of attrition at a windswept Harold Park.
Town made one change from the side which beat Altrincham,with Dan Clayton returning in place of the suspended Craig Nelthorpe.
A foul by Martin Drury on Chris Hall gave Town an early free kick,but the Avenue defence did its job,blocking both Clayton’s free kick and a follow up from Dave Merris.
Town piled on the pressure and peppered the Avenue defence with a series of long throws from Leigh Franks.
A brilliant turn and shot by Richard Marshall at Craig MacGillivray brought Avenue’s first attack to an end.
At the other end,John Lamb punched out a dangerous lob into the area by Franks, but Adam Nowakowski’s return header was straight at the keeper.
Avenue,playing with the strong breeze at their backs,started the second half on the offensive, with Chib Chilaka blazing over the top after a high bounce deceived, Matt Heath.
But Town were looking dangerous on the break and Nowakowski’s pass down the wing released Dom Rowe, but his centre across goal received no takers.
In his last action before being replaced by Conor Sellars,Dan Clayton almost provided an header for the onrushing Hall, but unfortunately his cross was inches too high.
The best action of the match was reserved for the final five minutes.Bradford skipper,Nathan Hotte found Jordan Deacey on the right,but luckily for Town his cross to the far post was headed over by Paul Walker.
Dwayne Samuels did enought to make ex Town favourite, Chilaka head just over, before Chilaka then hooked wide with only MacGillivray to beat.
However,it was Harrogate who missed the chance of the match,when deep into stoppage time, Hall broke down the left and his pinpoint pass left Rowe in the clear, but his snatched shot sailed the wrong side of the post.
There just remained time for Sellars to go close with a 25 yard snap shot before Referee Glen Hart blew for time.
Once again,Town were well supported by the vociferous travelling, “Barmy Army”, who sang and chanted for the whole match,but they had to make do with just one point.
Town
1 MacGillivray, 2 Samuels, 3 Merris, 4 Brown 5 Heath (c),6 Franks ( Mallory,60 mins),7
Rowe, 8 Nowakowski, 9 Hall, 10 Worsfold,( Ironside 57), 11 Clayton (Sellars 68).
Unused subs,14 Bolder,17 Woods. Bookings Brown,Franks,Worsfold
Town’s Man of the Match Anton Brown. Att.371
By John Harrison
