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Tuesday 1st October 2002 - Frickley Athletic 0-3 Bradford Park Avenue

With Jon Wordsworth returning to his normal position at centre half, Mark Hancock dropped back into the right full-back position whilst Scott Kerr returned to the midfield. Lee Morris partnered Andy Evans up front with Nigel Hemstock moving out wide on the right. Avenue included former Blues' players Andy Hayward and Rory Prendergast in their line-up.

The Blues came close to taking a shock lead in only the second minute when a long ball from Hancock somehow found its way through the Avenue defence to Evans whose 12 yard shot was turned away by Lutz Pfannenstiel's legs. Two minutes later Morris picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box to turn and shoot from 20 yards, forcing Pfannenstiel to smother his effort. The visitors managed to ease their way into the game, forcing a couple of corners, one of which almost brought the Blues the opening goal on the break as Hemstock sprinted away down the right. At the second attempt he managed to get his cross over but Remo Nesa headed wide from a good position. However, the Blues had a let-off on 15 minutes when a long ball from the back found Richard Tracey in the clear. As he bore down on goal Wordsworth managed to put him under pressure and his 18 yard shot beat Mark Samways and rebounded off the left hand post. The woodwork came to the Blues' rescue seven minutes later when Avenue forced a series of corners before James Stansfield headed against the right hand upright. At the other end Evans flicked the ball on to Morris who looked to get clear in the box but a defender crowded him out well. The Blues had already shown more enterprise and passion than they did in the whole 90 minutes on Saturday but as half time neared it was the visitors who looked more threatening. On 38 minutes Tracey and Prendergast combined on the edge of the box before Antony Jackson charged down Tarcey's shot but on 41 minutes Avenue took the lead. Hancock lost the ball to Prendergast on half way and he fed Tracey who broke clear down the left before sending over a great cross to pick out Hayward who couldn't miss with his header from close range.

Within minutes of the restart the Blues found themselves rather undeservedly two goals behind as Phil Lindley floated over a cross from the left which Gowen misjudged only for the ball to fall at the feet of Hayward who rifled in and angled shot from tight angle which Samways got his hands to but couldn't stop going in. From then onwards the visitors started to take control. Lindley shot over from 25 yards whilst Prendergast couldn't quite reach a through ball when at full stretch but  Tracey returned it across the face of goal before Wordsworth hacked it clear. Just after the hour Morris was unlucky when he seized on Evans's flick to break clear in the box but his first touch was a fraction too strong, allowing Pflannenstiel to collect at his feet. Kerr was then forced off by injury and was replaced by Ryan Williams, with Nesa moving into the centre of midfield. However, on 75 minutes Prendergast killed the game off. A long ball over the top found him sprinting clear, although looking offside, and he finished brilliantly to float the ball over Samways from 22 yards. Two minutes later the move was almost repeated, this time with Tracey breaking clear but Wordsworth got back to block his effort. The last ten minutes saw the Blues go close to at least snatching a consolation goal. On 84 minutes the impressive Nesa did well on the edge of the box before threading the ball through for Evans, who turned inside one player but got the ball stuck under his feet, allowing a defender to clear for a corner. From the corner the ball struck Pflannenstiel on the line and fell to Hemstock, with his back to goal, but he was crowded out as he tried to turn. Evans then headed over from 6 yards from a Hancock free-kick on the right whilst on 88 minutes Evans headed Williams left wing corner just wide of the right hand post.

Frickley Athletic : Samways, Nesa, Gowen, Elkin, Wordsworth, Jackson, Hancock, Kerr (Williams 70), Evans, Morris, Hemstock. Unused subs. Burke, Marsh  

Bradford Park Avenue : Pflannenstiel, Daly, Quinn, Martin (Painter 80), Stansfield, Mitchell, Lindley, Benn, Hayward, Tracey, Prendergast. unused subs. Atkinson, Rouse.

Attendance : 236

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