Moors Academy suffered a disappointing defeat on the road on Wednesday afternoon when they were beaten 3-2 at Bradford (Park Avenue).

Matty Dolan’s youngsters gave as good as they got during the North Division One encounter but were left ruing a number of missed chances as the hosts took the points.

Moors started the game brightly and Leighton Hope had an early opportunity to open the scoring when he broke clear and tried to lob the keeper but couldn’t find the target.

Another chance came along just afterwards when a ball was flashed across the face of the Bradford goal with Ethan Docherty just failing to apply the decisive touch.

The hosts then took the lead on 20 minutes with a wonderful free-kick rifled right into the top corner of James Brown’s goal.

It was a setback which knocked Moors out of their stride and a second goal arrived quickly afterwards when a ball in from the right wasn’t fully cleared and a Bradford played converted from the middle of the box.

Moors responded positively and Hope was sent clear again only to fire wide as Dolan’s youngsters regained some of their composure.

They got their reward for some good play seven minutes before the break when Docherty latched on to a ball over the top and finished clinically to pull a goal back.

Moors started the second half on the front foot too, with Archie Dodds orchestrating things in the centre of the park, and Docherty came close to levelling in spectacular fashion when his solo run was ended by a brilliant save from the home keeper.

That proved a key moment because Bradford then made it 3-1 on 70 minutes against the run of play when another excellent free-kick found the net.

Moors continued to press as time ran out on them and they did manage to pull another goal back at the death when Ousman Saine fired home to make it 3-2.

“We’ve had enough chance to have won the game, but ultimately the lads have paid the price for missing them,” Dolan said afterwards.

“It’s important for us to get back to winning ways as soon as possible now because this is a good group of lads and they can be a really good side when they have confidence in the way they are playing.”

Full Time: Bradford (Park Avenue) 3 Moors 2

Moors: Brown, K Dodds (Tate 46 (Saine 80)), Blair, Stapleton, Yates, Neely, Oakes, A Dodds, Docherty, Griffiths, Hope.