Bradford & District | Archive | 2002 | September | 27
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Friday 27th Sep 2002.
Bradford Park Avenue take their first steps in the FA Cup this season but face a tough trip to one of their UniBond Premier Division rivals Whitby Town in tomorrow's second qualifying round.
As top tier UniBond clubs, the close rivals were exempt until this round and were unfortunate to be paired against each other by the draw on September 16.
But Bradford boss Trevor Storton feels his side are in good form and that a win is possible.
"Whitby are not doing too badly at home this season and it will be a tough game," said Storton. "But cup football is all about how it goes on the day and I know our lads will be up for it because it is the FA Cup.
"If we play as well as we have been lately we have a good chance of going through, I think we are playing well at the moment and the confidence is high.
"We were beaten at home by Worksop in midweek but it was a very close game and they got the only goal. I don't know where some of the headlines came from after that match because I was supposed to have blamed my defenders for their goal but I couldn't blame anyone, we were excellent.
"The defenders played really well and deserved a lot of credit and we defended well as a unit all over the field when we weren't in possession.
"Worksop got that little bit of luck on the night and won it, but it was one of those games when whoever scored first was likely to win it. Both defences were on top form and it always looked like a 1-0 to one or the other, they just got the all- important strike."
Defender Martin James is doubtful after being forced off with a hamstring strain on Wednesday so Phil Atkinson comes back in to the squad.
On-loan keeper Ross Turner - himself a Worksop player - was not allowed to play against the club holding his registration in midweek and they do not want him cup-tied either so Lutz Pfannenstiel continues between the sticks.
Team (from); Pfannenstiel, Quinn, James, Martin, Stansfield, Mitchell, Lindley, Benn, Hayward, Maxwell, Prendergast, Hayward, Painter, Tracey, Daly, Atkinson.
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