U13: Bradford 18 - Billingham 4

The game was restarted from scratch after the original first period was refereed by coaches. At this point Bradford was leading 4-0. The restart was done with the agreement of both teams and on the instruction of the official referee, who arrived late due to personal circumstances.After the restart, it appeared that Billingham had forgotten to read the script. Bradford scored the opening goal, however Billingham scored 3 quick goals in reply and celebrated loudly each time. In response, Bradford started to pull their socks up and soon put some points on the board. As usual, Alex Graham led the charge with some accurate finishing. The Bradford team outclassed Billingham in almost every area and only the desire of Bradford to play a very attacking style with the defence pushing up a high line allowed Billingham the occasional chance to counter attack, with some quick breakouts.The Bradford players controlled the game in large sections of play with some great work from all the team, together with some slick passing and a good work rate to recover lost or missed passes. The players celebrated vocally with each goal, as this increased their goal difference over Nottingham in the title chase. Bradford continued to score regularly throughout the game and controlled the pace of the game, making it difficult for Billingham to even break out of its own defensive zone.Unfortunately, Billingham pulled the team with just over 2 minutes to play after a heavy check from behind on one of their players. Our player was excluded for the challenge, which was the correct decision, but Billingham indicated that they no longer wished to continue, signalling the end of the game.In summary, although the Billingham players put up a valiant effort and didn’t give up, Bradford dominated an ill tempered game, scoring 18 goals to 4. The early finish denied Bradford the chance to put what could potentially have been some more very important goals on the board in their chase for the title.Alex Graham received Player of the Match for his tireless work rate.