Invicta emerged victorious in the Yorkshire rain on Saturday afternoon, second half goals from Joel-Michael Odeniran and Jake Hutchinson securing a 2-0 win over Bradford (Park Avenue) as Jay Saunders’ side enter the final stretch of our pre-season preparations.

Invicta took a trimmed-down, 16-man squad on the long trip north, with only two outfield “trialists” who are both set to join the squad this week having impressed in pre-season.

Invicta could have been 2-0 up early on as “Trialist 11” – who scored earlier in pre-season at Hythe – created two similar chances on the counter. A first chance created via a one-two with Josh Strouts was lifted over the goalkeeper but past the post, a second saw him force an error from a Bradford defender before taking the ball around the keeper but shooting wide.

Trialist 11 turned provider shortly after with a cross to the back-post that found the head of Ade Yusuff to force the first save of the afternoon.

Bradford had a back-post header of their own midway through the first half but failed to hit the target and test Invicta’s young trialist goalkeeper. Yusuff responded with a similar chance from a Strouts cross but headed the ball into the ground for a defender to clear for a corner.

Montel McKenzie went close to opening the first-half goalscoring with a free kick that bounced off the soaking wet 3G pitch just in-front of the Bradford goalkeeper who did well to turn it around the post. Odeniran headed wide from the resulting corner.

On the half hour mark a big defensive header from Kevin Lokko was allowed to bounce by the Bradford defence, allowing Strouts to head the ball into the path of “Trialist 11” who saw a fierce strike saved.

Invicta kicked off the second half with Jack Jebb replacing Ronnie Dolan and a change to the trialist goalkeepers.

Jake Hutchinson and Mikey Berry both came on shortly after the hour mark, replacing Yusuff and “Trialist Two” respectively.

Defender Joel-Michael Odeniran finally broke the deadlock in the 75th minute. A Jebb corner was headed high into the air by a Bradford defender, Dean Rance won the second ball, allowing Odeniran to swivel and strike a half-volley perfectly into the top corner.

Odeniran nearly grabbed a second moments later as a Jebb free kick to the back post found its way wide of the goal after hitting both the defender and Strouts.

Jake Hutchinson netted his fourth in five games to double Invicta’s advantage with eight minutes remaining. Strouts headed a long pass from the keeper into McKenzie who drove at his defender before finding Mikey Berry’s underlapping run into the penalty area. The midfielder then squared for Hutchinson to finish into the bottom corner.

Hutchinson nearly added his second with the final kick of the afternoon but drilled his effort into the ground, Bradford’s substitute goalkeeper taking the save above his head.

The referee brought the afternoon to a close and Invicta’s players headed straight over to thank the travelling supporters who had made the 10-hour round trip to Yorkshire. We hope everybody who made the trip had a safe journey home and enjoyed their afternoon.

Jay Saunders and his coaching team will now put the players through two training sessions before we head into a busy final week of pre-season with trips to Tonbridge Angels on Saturday 26th July followed by Dover on Tuesday 29th July and Hornchurch on Saturday 3rd August.