Harrogate ease past Yorkshire rivals Bradford

Posted Sunday, March 24, 2024 by PA

Harrogate ended a run of eight games without a win in emphatic style with a 3-0 thumping of sorry neighbours Bradford.

Striker Josh March set the ball rolling by finally getting off the mark in the 25th game of his second spell with Harrogate.

Midfielder George Thomson’s penalty and a Daniel Oyegoke own goal then completed the scoring after the break as Bradford suffered a fourth straight defeat – a run that has also seen them concede 13 times.

March opened the scoring in the 21st minute, heading firmly past Sam Walker from six yards after Warren Burrell had escaped the visitors’ attentions down the right touchline and delivered a pinpoint cross.

Home keeper James Belshaw went on to react smartly to keep out Tyreik Wright’s free shot at goal, before former Bantam Matty Daly went close to doubling the hosts’ lead when he hit an upright with an instinctive edge-of-the-box strike.

The Sulphurites did add a second in the 73rd minute when Bradford skipper Richie Smallwood was adjudged to have handled after Jeremy Sivi tried to burst past him through the left channel.

Thomson bagged his 14th goal of the season by firing the resulting penalty high to Walker’s left as the away keeper dived in the opposite direction.

A humiliating third soon followed for the visitors when Oyegoke sliced Jack Muldoon’s low 79th-minute cross from the right past a helpless Walker to the delight of those of a yellow-and-black persuasion in a record Wetherby Road crowd of 3,905.