ALBION Sports won this weekend’s seismic ‘battle of Bradford’, beating 10-man Campion 2-0 in the pair’s Northern Counties East League Premier Division play-off semi-final at Scotchman Road.
Manager Rizwan Mohammed will now take his Albion side to Garforth Town for the final, with the winner of that game on Saturday joining champions Emley in being promoted to the Northern Premier League East Division.
Campion finished the regular season in second, with Albion coming fifth, meaning the former had home advantage at the weekend.
And the visitors had no recognised keeper either with Kyle Trennery absent, meaning outfield player Ryan Conlon was forced to go in goal.
Despite that, Albion made the brighter start, and had a couple of early handball appeals waved away.
But Campion, who were in the title race for much of the season, showed their class and hit back, with only some good defending from the away side keeping them out.
When Albion lost star man Robbie Fox to injury late in the first half, they could have been forgiven for losing some hope.
But Ash Flynn came on to replace him, and that proved to be an inspired substitution.
He immediately fired one effort over the bar, then flicked a ball on to send Lewis Waddington racing through on goal.
Campion goalkeeper Brad Emmerson raced out to try and thwart Waddington, but he brought down the Albion attacker outside of the box, and was shown a red card as a result.
That changed everything on the stroke of half-time, as it left the home side without a recognised goalkeeper either, and Albion made their man advantage pay straight after the break.
The rattled hosts conceded a penalty on 48 minutes, which was coolly converted by Flynn, who sent emergency Campion stopper Aidan Kirby the wrong way from the spot.
And with his confidence up, Flynn doubled the visitors' lead moments later.
Waddington beat Kirby to the ball and poked it round him, allowing a gleeful Flynn to tap home into the unguarded net.
The game petered out thereafter, though Campion were lucky not to go down to nine men after the threatening Waddington was once again brought down running through on goal.
One more win is all that is needed for Albion now, as they look reach the eighth-tier of English football for the first time in their history.
For Campion, they have one more chance to ensure this fine season end on a high note.
They travel to Division One champions Parkgate for an NCEL League Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, with the winner to face Emley at Glanford Park in the showpiece on May 8.
Parkgate reached the last-four on Saturday, winning 2-1 at home in their quarter-final against Premier Division Silsden.
The hosts took the lead early on through Ross Duggan, only for Jake Maltby to equalise moments before half-time.
But Parkgate won the game with a late goal from Robert Ludlam, with that defeat bringing the curtain down on Silsden’s season.
Brighouse Town’s season ended on Saturday too, as they were provisionally relegated from the NPL East Division.
They won 2-0 at home to Carlton Town, but Bridlington Town drew 1-1 at Consett to send Brig down on goal difference.
However, Brig may yet get a relegation reprieve due to Marske and Nuneaton from the tier above going bust in mid-season.
Liversedge ended their campaign with a 2-0 defeat at Grimsby Borough, but finished in a creditable 10th place.
And that is where Guiseley finished in the NPL Premier Division too, after they lost 2-1 against Workington on the final day.
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