Bradford draw for hard working Retford

By dmarshall

Retford United's first big game of this week saw league leaders Bradford Park Avenue visit Cannon Park on Tuesday evening.

The game started at a high tempo, and United were the first to carve open an opportunity when Neil Harvey looked to put his side into an early lead.

First blood was drawn after seven minutes when Harvey slotted the ball home from an angle.

James Lindley had another save to make from the head of Hall, but could do nothing on 25 minutes when Rob O'Brien's shot deflected against Michael Simpkins and into the bottom corner to level the scores.

As the first half ended, a corner for Retford was won by Simpkins and the ball dropped for Chris Bettney to shoot at the keeper.

Then, Marquin Smith showed his strength to stay on his feet as he bustled past the defence, only for his effort to be deflected over.

Bradford came out from the break and started brightly, O'Brien's shot was curling towards the top corner, but Lindley did very well to react and palm the ball away for a corner.

Darryl Thomas saw a chink of light through the Bradford defence and got through to the box, but as he got past the last man, his shot was straight at Dickinson.

A good build up saw Thomas get to the byline and play the ball across goal, but a goal-kick was given by the referee as the ball was adjudged to have floated out of play.

A great move then saw Harvey close in on goal and the ball played low to Thomas but the United striker was unable to make any contact with the ball.

Skipper Michael Simpkins challenged as he looked to make amends for his earlier own goal, rising to head the ball towards goal from a United free-kick, but his effort went harmlessly over the bar.

O'Brien was then in the thick of the action again, his shot rolling wide, before a good run from former Bradford player Bettney found Smith, whose shot was cleared before Thomas won United another corner.

Mick Godber replaced Darryl Thomas with 10 minutes remaining, and his presence forced a mistake by the Bradford defence.

The excellent Smith charged through on the run, but he couldn't get past the last challenge and the ball was cleared.

Bettney did well, standing strong to stay on his feet under the challenge, but he was muscled off the ball as Bradford looked to make sure the draw stayed a possibility.

Into the final few minutes, and Bradford tried to find a winner.

A mistake by Nicky Ellis let in Savory and Lindley had to stand tall and did very well to block the shot on two occasions with his legs.

Then, deep into injury time, Jamie Price had his diving header saved by Lindley from close range, United keeping it tight as the ball pinged around the area.

United dropped a place to third after Boston's victory at Durham City on Saturday.

Tuesday night's defeat to Boston saw Retford slip one further place to fourth.