Bradford Park Avenue and Emley picked up a point apiece in a competitive and at times, feisty West Yorkshire derby in the Northern Premier League Division One East clash which finished with 3 red cards!

Emley will possibly be happier with a point after a backs to the wall second half effort despite taking the lead early on in the half, the first half was pretty even with Emley perhaps having the best chance to open the scoring.

On a sultry night in South West Bradford, it was Emley, again, resplendent in brilliant orange and with the usual good following, who were forced to defend in the opening minutes, Barks with a crucial header away as Avenue threatened, Dec Lambton was then off his line quickly to head another dangerous ball away.

Emley found a bit of rhythm and started to find their attacking feet, but a corner came to nothing as the hosts once again tested Lambton with a rifled shot, and the corner was also cleared, a couple of minutes later and it was Emley on the attack, another corner led to Belchior Rodrigues firing wide, Sorhaindo then headed over after a throw in led to another corner.

Emley then produced the best chance of the evening just before the half hour, Joe Clegg, stepping his way through the BPA defence before slamming a low shot against the foot of the post, the lucky hosts were then relieved to see Sorhaindo not get enough power on a shot and followed a few minutes later by a wild effort from Baldwin from the left.

At the other end, another well worked move saw a chance for Avenue but Carver fired wide of the target before a sad sight for Emley fans as Clegg received lengthy treatment on an injured shoulder and had to be replaced by Carlos Rodrigues just before half time.

H/T- Bradford PA 0-0 Emley

With the crowd still settling down after the break, Emley were on the attack from the off and after some firm defending from Avenue initially, the Pewits took the lead and what a strike to do it!

Both Rodrigues' were involved in the initial build up which saw the ball only partially cleared as far as Laurence Sorhaindo, who, 20 yards out curled a stunner into the top corner, the keeper got a touch but he wasn't stopping it and Emley celebrated with their fans and flags which stretched almost one end to another behind that goal.

It was Sorhaindo's 3rd goal of the campaign and looked to have set Emley on their way to another three points, but within 2 minutes, the hosts were level, another fine finish from Chorlton after the ball was worked to the left hand side of the area.

Bradford then dominated proceedings for the majority of the rest of the second half, Emley performing heroics in defence and aided by some sloppy finishing, chance after chance came for BPA, from a corner, a free header was put wide, another cross that was asking to be buried was headed over, a minute later and yet another free header bounced up off the bar, then Lambton stopped another attack with a brave dive at the feet of the attacker, another shot was saved by Lambton, the ball wasn't cleared and the shot went wide and Emley were hanging on.

Emley made a series of changes to try and alter the flow of the game, Hardaker and Kenny were introduced for Baldwin and Belchior Rodrigues

Bradford got down Emley's flanks numerous times but the presence of Cowgill and Barks saw them off and Emley survived the onslaught, Emley were no doubt relieved to have come through that intense period of pressure unscathed, however, just as it looked like we were fighting our way back into the game, Charlie Barks got himself sent off with 2 yellows, the second for needlessly booting the ball away!

But Emley had weathered the storm and came out the other end and looked for a winner themselves, Sonny Whittingham had replaced the hard working Chris Dawson and BPA only tested Lambton meaningfully once more but following a corner, the shot was fired wide.

Emley weren't quite finished as an attacking force either, and following a long ball downfield, Carlos Rodrigues beat the defender, who with the goal gaping, pulled him to the ground, a clear red card for former Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall defender Mark Beevers, which was swiftly followed by a second yellow and then a red for Ible as the game descended into a bit of anarchy at the end.

There was a chance for the Pewits to nick it from the resulting free kick from Stacey was straight into the keepers' arms and the points were shared after a manic last 10 minutes.

With Emley remaining unbeaten after our first two league games, our attention now turns to the FA Cup and a trip to Lancashire to face Longridge Town in the Preliminary round on Saturday.

F/T- Bradford PA 1-1 Emley.

Attendance- 494

Emley- Lambton, Lindley, Baldwin, Metcalfe [c], Cowgill, Barks, Dawson, B.Rodrigues, Clegg, Sorhaindo, Stacey:
Subs used- C.Rodrigues, Kenny, Hardaker, Whittingham.
Unused- Dean

Goal- Sorhaindo (49')
Red card- Barks (83')

WM Sykes Man of the Match- Jack Cowgill