Heaton Stannington gave themselves a mountain to climb at Bradford (Park Avenue) – and never quite recovered from a shocking start which saw them 2-0 down inside six minutes.

It was the Stan who got the game underway, playing the ball straight back to goalkeeper Lewis Brass who launched the ball upfield. The home side sent the ball back his way and put him under pressure immediately. He found Liam Doyle but the right-back’s first touch was heavy, putting the ball on a plate for the advancing Jack Normanton, who was able to scoop the ball over Brass into an empty net.

The second blow was dealt just five minutes later, as Bradford’s left winger was able to burst past Doyle out wide and then play a perfect through ball into the centre for Connor Shanks to slot away.

Many in the Horsfall Stadium would’ve expected this to become a procession, but the Stan stabilised. The damage that had been done in the early stages meant that the home side were much harder to break down, but had the game remained goalless after the opening exchanges, there’s every chance this could’ve been a positive result.

After a quarter of an hour, Dan Stephenson tried his luck from 25 yards to attempt to pull back into the game, but it wasn’t too much of a challenge for goalkeeper Ed Hall. Another 15 or so minutes later, Konner Lamb was able to burst into the area and shoot, but again, the keeper only had to move minimally to get himself on top of the ball.

While the result will have undoubtedly been a disappointment for manager Dean Nicholson and his staff, the biggest concern of the afternoon will have been the loss of Leighton Hopper, Louis Anderson and Liam Doyle to injury, with the latter looking the most serious. But the effort of the players can’t be faulted – mistakes happen but it’s how you recover and learn from them that matters, and although they came away from West Yorkshire empty-handed, they can be pleased with their work rate and determination when the game settled to keep the score down and to try to get something out of it.

Attention turns now to a Coast Road derby against Whitley Bay in the Northumberland Senior Cup, which could prove to be a good opportunity to make some changes and build some confidence ahead of a return to league action next Saturday when the Stan are at home to Brighouse Town.

Liam Milburn