From April, 2008
Bradford City 1 Morecambe 0 - League Two
There was a nervousness - a sense of being on edge - in the last five minutes of this one goal victory over a Morecambe side who’s defeat at Christie Park represented a nadir of City’s season which was entire out of keeping with the comprehensive nature of the win and left a sense of what could have been for the Bantams after another promotion contender was moved aside with relative ease.
Those who witnessed the gutless display away in the North West came back with a worry about City’s ability to turn around the slide and the season but as a confident Bantams recorded the sort of 1-0 win which left a questions as to how the home side did not score more the answer seemed to lay in the vigour, zest and belief which characterised the display.
Nowhere is that belief better shown than in Joe Colbeck. Joe Colbeck - a player who this time last year was said to “divide fans” between those who thought he would never amount to a professional footballer and those who thought he deserved a chance. Very few would have said that this time next season he would strut across the field prompting moves, making play, setting up goal as a part of the best passing move of this and many seasons for the Bantams.
Nevertheless Colbeck’s intelligent running and low cross from the inside left gave Eddie Johnson the chance to score a scruffy but well deserved goal. After the game Stuart McCall would comment that Johnson had been forced to play out of position as a midfielder signalling that Eddie was to be consider a spare Peter Thorne for next term. Johnson took the injured Thorne’s place in the forward line with Barry Conlon playing just behind him and the pair toiled all afternoon calming the single strike but being unlucky not to get more. Conlon headed against the bar in the first half only to see Omar Daley flick the rebound over - Thorne’s miss against Rotherham has a rival now - and at that time as the Bantams waited for the inevitable goal in what was a one sided there were nerves which Johnson would ease.
Indeed it says much about the team’s display that on the whole Scott Loach was a spectator during his first game against a former club and when called into action he barely had to stretch himself. One doubts he will be at Valley Parade next season and with Donovan Ricketts not getting past Heathrow - or perhaps being lost in a bag in Terminal Five - City and McCall are looking for a new shot stopper at a time when the team is benefiting most from the build up of relationships and partnerships.
The longer Tom Penford gets in the side the more useful he looks and he and Kyle Nix did enough to stop any threat coming through the middle for the Shrimps. Injury to Garry Thompson - a thorn in City’s side back in October and subject of a Bantams bid - robbed the visitors of their main thrust of creativity and aside from a smattering of attacks forwards the end that seemed more nervous in the crowd than they did on the field they offered very little. Indeed had it not been for the customary cacophony of Mavis Riley’s as the final whistle drew near with only a single goal advantage then this game would have been stress free.
This too can be credited to the display of an inspired Mark Bower - skipper for the day on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his debut - who’s performance alongside David Wetherall sapped hope from the visitors.
So it seems the more that Stuart McCall and his team stay together and play together the better they are getting and the season is ending a month too soon for a play off push. Much is hoped for next season by all and perhaps rightly so. I hear that this has been a transitional season for the Bantams - Julian Rhodes reported the superb news that City had broken even for the first time since Bower was a teenager - and one that sets up the promotion push for next year but for me there has been a real achievement in 2007/2008.
For the first time since that day in May 1999 a negativity seems to have started to shift from the club. The Premiership years were characterised not - as the history books are written - but pure glory then pure failure but by the constant sense of impending doom and the years after were a decline but if that decline reached a pit then it was in the last minute goal at Christie Park that mean that the Bantams lost to a team who were in the Unibond when we were in the Premiership leaving us looking at Farsley Celtic as a rival the season after rather than Leeds United and the reality check, the wake up calls, the smell of the coffee afterwards has been realised and is manifested here and now by McCall’s team as the signalled not a revenge but a renewal in this win.
The Bantams have been at bottom, now for the way up. And they say Stuart McCall has not done anything in his first season as a manager…
Rochdale 2 Bradford City 1 - League Two 2007/2008
So that’s it, thank you very much, goodnight. After this reverse there will be no more debate about where City will be playing next season.
When Rochdale sub Adam Le Fondre struck a late winner at Valley Parade six weeks ago it was seen by many City fans as the end to any Play Off chances. The more optimistic, or foolish, amongst us have kept some hope, borne from some subsequent excellent wins, but Le Fondre’s latest substitute cameo has ensured a City top seven finish is as likely as a relaxed passport official at Heathrow Airport.
As the final whistle was blown on the game and on City’s frail promotion hopes last night, the players received warm applause from the away fans as they accepted their team’s fate. It was an unfortunate defeat in many ways and worth noting it is only the second on the road in 2008. It may have been the night where lingering dreams were put to bed, but it was in costly home defeats to the likes of Mansfield, Dagenham and Bury that such ambitions were truly thwarted.
For the home side they can still dream of only the second promotion in their 100-year history. Needing the win just as badly but with more credible chances, Rochdale got off to a flyer by taking the lead inside 30 seconds. Eddie Johnson tried to keep hold of the ball for too long on the edge of the area and was robbed by David Perkin, the man who ran the show in the February Valley Parade meeting, who then charged through and scored with a low finish. As the home players celebrated several City players angrily confronted the linesman, though it wasn’t obvious what they were complaining about. It would not be the last argument between some very poor officials and those in Claret and Amber during the game.
Stunned by such a bad start, it took a while for City to get going as Rochdale passed the ball around well and created a few half chances. At Valley Parade they surprised with their all out attacking way of playing, which saw them dominate large periods, and they again proceeded to play with a high defensive line last night. Barry Conlon and Peter Thorne were both caught offside on numerous occasions. Johnson and Penford worked hard in midfield but lacked the presence and authority to truly win control over Rochdale’s. It was a night where the continuing absence of Lee Bullock was particularly felt.
A cleverly worked free kick saw Johnson hit the post after Paul Heckingbottom chipped the ball into his path and Penford also went close but, just like the first half at Darlington on Saturday, the home side enjoyed more possession and looked the bigger threat. Ben Muirhead, curiously booed by some City fans, almost struck a second but his low shot from distance fizzled wide. Yet for all the chances Rochdale created, just like at Valley Parade, you sensed they were lacking a decent striker to put them away and truly make them a force.
Someone like Thorne perhaps. As the ink dries on a newly signed contract, City’s top scorer added a 13th goal of the season on the hour by equalising from the spot. A good pass picked out Joe Colbeck, starved of the ball all evening and not the threat he can be, who ran into the area only to be bundled over. This was the first time since his penalty miss against Dagenham that Conlon has been on the pitch when City have won a spot kick, but the Irish striker would have been a brave man to try and take the ball off Thorne who dispatched the penalty confidently.
On Saturday City’s equaliser inspired the team onto better things, but it was Rochdale who roared back strongly. While this writer has yet to see the MK Dons this season and only saw Peterborough defeated at Valley Parade when they were yet to hit the subsequent heights they’ve achieved, the Dale have been the most impressive League Two opposition so far. With Perkin at the hub of everything, they continued to pass the ball around well and created some good chances. It was a night City’s defence needed to play well and there were some good performances from David Wetherall, Mark Bower and Heckingbottom. Recalled at right back, Ben Starosta struggled all evening and Rochdale particularly threatened down his side.
Alex Rhodes and Luke Medley came on as sub in an effort to turn the tide, but City were their own worst enemies by frequently giving the ball away whenever they won it back. What was needed was some calm and to play a few passes around to take the sting out of the game and control the tempo, instead efforts were blighted by hurried passes and stupidly ambitious balls out wide which just saw the pressure straight back on the defence. Clearances were often wayward; particularly Loach’s kicking which was woeful. Rochdale continued to create chances with Perkin almost netting from a spectacular strike, City were hanging on.
Which they failed to manage as substitute Le Fondre once again struck with a well placed low shot from just inside the penalty area, with just three minutes to go. There were groans from some City fans as TJ Moncur was thrown on to play up front, but his presence almost helped City to snatch an equaliser as Rochdale became nervous. Bower and Conlon both saw efforts come back off the bar and Penford’s stab attempt at goal was cleared off the line. On another night one of these chances would have gone in and City left the field at the end rueing their luck.
Such was the unlikeliness of the Play Offs, even if City had won, that the disappointment of being ruled out does not feel so bad at the moment. In many people’s eyes, this season will go down as a disappointment and this is understandable if not entirely accurate. When considering where City were five months ago and how much ground needed to be made up following the dreadful first third to the season, it was always going to be a tall order. 2008 has largely being good and, while there has been some poor performances, they have been outnumbered by some decent ones.
We may not be visiting Spotland next year as Rochdale look a good bet to finish and go up through the Play Offs, but City will be back next season a much wiser, smarter and hopefully better team. There’s now six games left to enjoy and a busy summer of ins and outs to follow. The makings of a decent side are here and there should be confidence in the management team that the summer strengthening can turn us into a stronger force next season.
Hopes of promotion over, but it won’t be long until we’re dreaming again.