A Bradford side that had been in far from scintillating form came to the SoL for a Papa John’s Trophy tie that could give them nothing more than a bit of pride, as they’d lost their previous two games by the same score-line of 0-3. The game also meant precious little to us, other than an avoidance of defeat would guarantee a home tie in the next round. After a first half that was as disjointed as Saturday’s first 45, we upped our game a little in the second but could only draw – then miss out on the extra point on offer by coming second in the penalty shoot-out.
Hoffmann
Richardson Alves Younger Gooch
Sohna O'Nien (c) Embleton
Pritchard
Dajaku Broadhead
Well, that’s what we thought might be the formation when we saw the names on the teamsheet, and that’s how it panned out, although Gooch and Richardson spent a lot of time pushed up the wings, and when they did that O’9 tended to drop into a back three for brief spells.
After the Last Post and the minute’s silence, Bradford kicked off northwards, in their pale blue change kit – presumably at the request of the fifty or so brave souls who’d made the pointless trip from Yorkshire.
Only a few minutes in, and Hoff almost let it run between legs for corner when playing attempting to play it out of defence right on the byline. Footballing goalies, man!
Soon after that, Gooch was caught too high up the field and was beaten by his man, earning a deserved yellow for bringing him down, but we defended the set-piece well enough. We even produced some nice passing to set Embo through on goal with seven minutes on the clock, but his shot from the edge of the box was deflected up in the air and instead of spinning into the net, it dropped into arms of prone keeper. Lucky bugger.
Dajaku, having started on the right, swapped to left on 18, back to the right on 25, then came back to the left almost immediately. By half seven, each keeper had made one standard save each, with Hoff moving nicely to his right to claim a shot from the edge of the box and, while Gooch's right-footed curler from the left might have not been curly enough to go in, it still needed saving to prevent one of ours latching onto it at the back post. We were generally lacking in movement when we had the ball and not pressing when we didn’t. That’s not to say nobody was chasing down defenders, but it only seemed to be one player at a time doing it, with no backup. Consequently, Bradford were able to play it out from the back and win a number of corners as they pressed towards Hoff’s goal.
With 35 minutes gone, and after their fourth corner, it came in low from our right and was stabbed in from a yard. They'd had the majority of possession and forward play, so I suppose it was deserved, but it still felt rotten – and almost inevitable, even against lower league opposition. No offence intended, Bradford.
Seen minutes later we fashioned our best chance as Broadhead wriggled through the centre of the visiting defence into the box but saw his shot from the spot well saved. Pritchard was then booked for being ratty, when being described as “ratty” by me would usually be a compliment, but not tonight - wrong kind of ratty.
Two added minutes were announced, in which Gooch cut back onto his right foot to cross to the back post, but it was poked wide by a stretching Richardson, who’d done well to get that far forward. The whistle was greeted with a general grumbling and a discussion on how many games LJ had before he was in real trouble. The general consensus around me was that if he lost the next two, his time night well be up. We also reckoned that, given our lack of movement when we had the ball and no pressing when we hadn’t meant that Bradford's half time lead was deserved even though we'd more than evened up possession by then. Personnel-wise, we decided that LJ should get Pritch off and Harris on, as Broadhead was far and away our biggest threat up front, and he could have done with a lot better support than provided by the diminutive Pritch.
No changes were made, and whatever LJ’s team-talk had consisted of it seemed to work – a bit. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t suddenly turn into Real Madrid, or even the Sunderland we’d seen at QPR or Lincoln, but we were a bit sharper and began to work together in harassing opponents. The ball was getting to Gooch on the left a lot quicker, and he was beginning to bring team-mates into the fray.
Six minutes into the half, a lovely ball was played by Embo over the defence to Broadhead in the inside right slot, and he calmly carried it into the box and lashed it across the keeper and in. A lovely finish, and one that seemed to lift our spirits, with the body language changing dramatically from the slouched attitude some had displayed before the break. We won our first corner thanks to those lifted spirits and, at last, pressing the defence, when Pritch's challenge saw the ball ping off a defender's nose and behind. The most entertaining way to win a corner. Soon after this, Broadhead came off and Harris came on, when many of us thought Pritch or the ineffective Dajaku were more deserving of a sit on the bench.
Decent play down the left, with Gooch again at the heart of it, got the ball to the feet of Harris at the front post but with the keeper in close attendance he could only knock it wide. Our young centre forward was certainly putting himself about leaving the visiting defenders in no doubt that he didn’t mind clattering into them when necessary. Or when it wasn’t necessary – the sort of play that gets the fans going.
Bradford made a couple of changes on the hour, but we were the team in the driving seat, with Gooch a different player in the second half, getting plenty of the ball and firing in crosses with either foot. On 70 minutes, O'9 played a great ball to Dajaku, and he looked odds-on to repeat his Crewe goal, but his shot was parried across to the back of the goal where Harris looked even shorter odds to nod it in - but a Bradford boot cleared it for a corner. Two minutes later Winch came on for Sohna and Taylor for Embo, which prompted some shifting about of players. Gooch went to right back, Richardson to left back – and that was it. Harris was still giving their defence a fair old battering, leading us to conclude that either Billy Whitehurst or Mick Harford had joined our coaching.
With eight to go, a nasty collision 35 yards from our goal left Taylor and his opponent Foulds on the turf, but both were eventually patched up and we cleared Bradford’s free-kick. A foul on the left corner of their box right on the 90 minute mark gave us a good chance, and with O’9 hovering, and us asking the usual “why, Luke?” Pritch stepped up and whacked his effort off the near angle of crossbar and post, and almost immediately four added minutes were announced.
We pushed for the winner, and Harris flashed a first time shot across the goal from Winchester's pass over the defence as many left the ground, presumably oblivious to the probability of the penalty shootout. Bradford also gave it a go, forcing a great save down to his left from the Hoff, then the whistle went and even more folks set off home. Frankie's penalty announcement turned most of them back.
Off went the keepers to the Roker End, where there were no fans. Bradford were up first - down went Hoff to his right, but leaving a trailing leg to save. Their keeper went the same way and saved with his hands from Pritch, just to knock the smile off our collective faces.
Bradford thundered their next effort high to Hoff's right, O'9 hit his high to the other side, then Bradford's next went in as well.
Harris planted his low and in, as did Bradford. Gooch was next, with his well-hit effort being tipped round the post by the keeper going to his right again. That left it at 3-2 to Bradford, meaning that Hoff either had to save or they had to miss - and they claimed the extra point with a firm final penner.
A disappointing result, even if, progress-wise, it meant nothing other than a guaranteed home tie and that we have to endure at least a few minutes of Soccer AM on Saturday when we should have been enjoying a day off from the football. That result also meant that we’d failed to win for six consecutive games, two of which have been against League Two opposition. I’m entirely unsure of what’s happened to our teams, as we’ve gone from fast-flowing, competitive football at all levels to the generally ineffective and limpid stuff we’ve seen of late. Physically, the difference between the Man U game and the Bradford game was the presence of more first-teamer in the latter. Read into that what you will, but in my many years following the Lads, I’ve seen on numerous occasions a team playing well fade to one that’s played badly, usually down to injuries of loss of form, but I can’t remember a team that’s so suddenly stopped being decent.
Man of the Match? Younger was a constant source of confidence at the back, more than making up for the patchy performance of Alves, while Broadhead and his replacement Harris showed their worth in very different ways. O’9 stayed persistent at the heart of midfield, supported by Sohna, while Embo struggled in the first half and Dajaku and Pritch were inconsistent outlets. I’ll probably give it to Broadhead for the quality of his finish and his general forward play with precious little close-hand support.
