A second half goal from Lloyd Kerry sealed the game as Harrogate Town beat Bradford City 1-0 in the first professional meeting between the two sides.
The empty stands gave the game an eery feel to it. Bradford definitely missed their 15,000 home fans not being there.
The opening 20 minutes saw Harrogate going forwards for the majority of it however, the Bantams had the best chances by testing the Harrogate keeper on numerous occasions with the experienced duo of Lee Novak and Clayton Donaldson both having chances.
O’Donnell went down injured during the first half after a clash with Jon Stead after the keeper spilt a shot from outside the box.
Ex-Bantam Jon Stead went close at the 30 minute mark as a header inside the box produced a quality save from Bradford City’s captain Richard O’Donnell.
Fallowfield had a shot himself which went just wide from being in lots of space. The right back had plenty of the ball in the Bradford half, combining with George Thomson on many occasions in an attempt to get into the box.
The first half ended 0-0 with both sides having goal scoring chances but Harrogate were the stronger side after having 12 shots and 54% possession.
The Bantams made their first change at half time as Callum Cooke replaced Gareth Evans.
Cooke had a great chance to open the scoring at the start of the second half as he dragged a shot inside the box just wide after some great hold up play by Donaldson.
Callum Cooke had a great impact as Bradford City started to get a foothold in the game during the second half and started to dominate possession for the first time after Harrogate had so much of the ball in the first half.
A scramble in the Harrogate box saw Bradford go close once again but none of the players could get a shot away. Bradford really began to grow stronger in the game.
City made their second change of the match in the as Billy Clarke came off for Austin Samuels to make his debut.
Lloyd Kerry scored the only goal of the game for Harrogate town in the 74th minute after a teasing cross from Muldoon set up Kerry to tap it past the keeper.
Embed from Getty ImagesBradford looked very disjointed after the goal and all the hard work done before the goal to try and get a foothold into the game had been undone.
Debutant Austin Samuels had a chance to make his debut a dream one but the 19 year old put a great chance over the bar late on in the game.
Four minutes of added time were given as Bradford searched for an equaliser but Harrogate stayed strong and took the three points back to Harrogate.
This result sees newly promoted Harrogate Town move up to 8th in League Two, just two points off the automatic promotion places. Ex-Premier League club Bradford City stay in 16th place after a slow start to the season.
Player ratings:
Harrogate Town: J Belshaw 8, R Fallowfield 8, W Smith 8, C Hall 8, W Burrell, 7, G Thomson 7, J Falkingham 9, L Kerry 8, C Miller 7, J Stead 8, J Muldoon 7 Subs: A Martin 6, B Kiernan 6
Bradford City: R O’Donnell 6, T French 5, A O’Connor 5, R Staunton 7, C Wood 5, E Watt 6, L Sutton 6, G Evans 5, B Clarke 5, C Donaldson 4, L Novak 5 Subs: C Cooke 7, A Samuels 5, K Guthrie 5