On a morning that should of been all about the dawn of the new season, Albion traveled over to Bradford for a last minute friendly arranged after Colton were unable to fulfill the proposed season opener.

Albion's opponents were Craven, Wharfe and Aire division B outfit Shetcliffe Rangers.

With Shetcliffe not starting their league campaign until 15th September they were able to host a game that suited both sides. A strong Shetcliffe outfit that had managed a creditable 4-1 defeat against Selby Premier Division side Pontefract Sports and Social a fortnight previous looked to claim a Selby League scalp in Albion.

However a side bouyed on the back of 3 straight wins arrived full of confidence missing a couple of boys from that strong run in Striker Jake Shaw and Right Back Vinnie Ramskill the squad was rotated to fill the roles vacated by the two lads missing. Evan Banville came into fill Right Full Back and Ethan Fisher came into the starting lineup in midfield as Travis Horner moved into the striker role.

The game was one which needed to be approached tactically different in both halves as the pitch on a large lengthway's slope provided the team coming down the slope a heavy advantage, this was seen as Shetcliffe playing downhill in the first half enjoyed much of the early possession as Albion fought to get used to the uphill conditions found playing out through the normal means tough going. The game was tight and crowded in the middle of midfield and the usual fluency of the wide men being hampered by the up hill running meant Shetcliffe were able to pen Albion in their half for large parts of the game.

This meant that Albion were forced to try an play a high line and look to utilise the space in behind the Shetcliffe defence with the ball holding up, this was eventually realised a third of the way into the first half and slowly Albion began to gain field position, more possession and started to ask question of the Shetcliffe defence.

Logan was Called into action on a couple of occasions making a pair of smart save to deny the hosts the opening goal and providing an outlet for the defence when they were turned around on the slope, this seemed to be keeping the danger reduced to a minimum and Albion although under pressure seemed comfortable dealing with what the hosts were trying g to do.

The first changes came mid way into the first half with Billy Hudson and Charlie Hedley (Making his 2nd Albion Debut following his return) replacing Harry Thornton and Frayza Benton who had been asked to do a lot of running on the slope and in an attempt to preserve their energy and share the workload were given a well earned break.

Billy Hudson found the measure of the Shetcliffe Right Back straight away running at him and beating him on numerous occasions and eventually that pressure told as Billy opened the scoring with a direct run and neat finish making it 1-0 to Albion with 5 minutes of the first half remaining Riley Bennett was brought into the action to replace Ethan Fisher.

Albion saw out the half and took thier 1-0 lead into the half time interval.

The 2nd half started with Albion straight onto the front foot using the width well and finding more space for James B and Albert to control the game the ball was being used well and a number if good chances came and went to double the lead the hosts were being kept to long balls down the middle and Logan now simply distributing back into midfield for them to look for the openings.

One came after great work out on the right by Charlie Hedley as he darted inside glided passed both centre halves and slotted volley into the bottom left corner Albion finally had breathing space.

Shetcliffe went to 3 at the back pushing more men into midfield this for a short period saw the creativity of James and Albert halted due to the tight spaces.

A tactical switch saw Frayza brought into midfield with the task now about managing the game from the lessons of the first half we found spaces and were able to pick the passes up hill and create chances, Frayza was sent in to stiffle the opposition and break up the game.

He did this well making the opposition midfield play quick balls the compromised the accuracy allowing us to regain possession then use the slope to our advantage we had plenty of ball and they couldn’t regain a foothold in the game.

Ethan provides the ball of the match with a measured checked ball between both centre halves and Frayza ran in from no where to pick up and beat the out rushing keeper 3-0 and game all done and dusted at that point.

Focus then swung to maintaining the clean sheet the boys banked up well as we switched to a 4-5-1 for the final 10 minutes which gave us the protection to see the game out.

Great result, solid performance and a great mornings work to keep us ticking over.