BRADFORD PARK AVENUE 1, MOSSLEY 0
Marcus Carver was Bradford Park Avenue’s matchwinner as Mossley’s dream of a lucrative run in the Emirates FA Cup ended in the extra-preliminary round at the Horsfall Community Stadium.
It was by no means a cup classic, and nothing like some of the epic ties featured in the Avenues Archives article in the matchday programme.
There was the 1945/46 season when cup ties were played over two legs and Avenue were drawn against Manchester City.
It looked like a dead rubber when City won 3-1 at Park Avenue but the return was one of the most astonishing games the club had ever featured in as they won 8-2 at Maine Road for a 9-5 aggregate victory.
Then in 1948, Avenue won 1-0 at Arsenal who were the league champions while the next year they took Manchester United to two replays.
Those were the halcyon days when Avenue were a Football League club, far removed to the present day when they are in Step 4 on non-league after back-to-back relegations from National League North to Northern Premier League, East in 2023 and2024.
The club has ambitions to regain former glories, and they kicked off the new campaign with a slender cup win against Mossley.
It is bizarre beginning a cup campaign on August 2 and before the league has kicked off, and the rustiness showed in what was a bitty and disjointed encounter.
Mossley, who are also in Step 4, are nowhere in the same league as Avenue financially but they matched the Yorkshire side.
It was never going to be a high-scoring encounter and the decisive moment came midway through the second half when Carver, who has played pro at Accrington Stanley and spent most of his career in the National Leagues, found the net.
The goal came from a short corner and cross from the left to the far post where Kareem Hassan-Smith’s fiercely struck angled shot was well beaten out by keeper Finlay Madigan only for the predatory Carver to be lurking for a simple tap-in.
Mossley manager Alex Craddock declared: “We gave a good account of ourselves, and it is a tough one to take.
“We had a game plan and executed it well for 65 minutes when we conceded from a short corner.
“What disappointed me was how we reacted after conceding – we panicked and went away from doing what got us success.
Craddock was pleased how his side, which was without four regulars, created chances and claimed they ought to have been awarded a first-half penalty.
“The referee said Reece [Webb-Foster] went down too easily, but we also had enough chances,” he continued.
Mossley, who lost centre half Mateusz Kardacz in the opening half with concussion after being elbowed in the face, created three decent chances late in the opening half as Obua Mugalula shot weakly wide while Guiherme Baltazar and substitute Joe Berks had efforts blocked.
Avenue only threatened once when Connor Shanks, sliding in at the far post, failed to direct Joe Ackroyd’s cross on target.
The hosts were far more positive in the second period and early on Madigan pulled off a super stop to keep out Carver’s header.
Shanks also headed over when well place and it looked as though Mossley would force a replay until Carver eventually found the net with 25 minutes left.
Isaac Graham had a chance to equalise but fired wide as Mossley lacked a cutting edge that Carver provided.