Wednesday 26th November, 20082 years ago, at the end of November
Battling back
Bradford City 3 Chesterfield 2 At Valley Parade in League Two, 2008/2009
City produced a fine comeback from 2-0 down to grab all three points and ascend into 2nd place in League Two.
It was a game full of incident and open play, and City’s superb resolve and spirit was highly commendable against dangerous attacking opposition.
McCall sprung a surprise in naming the starting eleven by leaving top scorer Peter Thorne on the bench. His troublesome back problems that have developed over the last few weeks is likely to be the reasoning behind not risking him from the start. With so many injuries to contend with, McCall tinkered with a diamond formation in the first half, with Tom Clarke playing the anchor role in midfield protecting the back four, and Omar Daley getting a free role to roam with menace.
Things could not have got off to a worse start when a long throw into the area was not dealt with, and Jack Lester rifled in a left foot strike beyond Rhys Evans to put Chesterfield ahead.
The game opened up and City had two good chances to level via Omar Daley – in particular when he seemed to have got clean through and just before he was about to shoot, an excellent last ditch challenge was produced by Chesterfield defender Downes, to deny the pacy Jamaican.
Things went from bad to worse when Chesterfield doubled their advantage on 23. A loose ball floated around the penalty area that City failed to clear and it was left to Darren Currie to produce a rasping left foot strike that took a deflection and flew into the roof of the net, prompting jubilant celebrations from the scorer.
To their credit, City never let their heads drop and really began to play with more purpose despite being 2-0 down. There was some nice interplay and with Michael Boulding a willing runner all night, City began asking questions of Robert Page’s Chesterfield backline. When Barry Conlon was fouled just outside the box, the resultant free kick was left to skipper Graeme Lee who smashed the ball directly into the net with a thunderbolt that threw City a lifeline.
And just before halftime a short corner produced a left wing cross that was headed firmly down by Boulding that drew City level.
The second half began with City in the ascendancy and should have taken the lead twice through Boulding. First, he was unlucky to see his strike bounce wide following an excellent cross from the left from O’Brien. Then he really should have scored when one on one with Page, but he dragged his shot wide of the target.
Chesterfield were still having a fair amount of attacking play though, and Jack Lester missed a very presentable chance when clean through on goal to the left of the box. But Evans did a brilliant job, making himself big, and only providing Lester with an acute angle left to shoot which he sliced into the side netting.
The penalty that was awarded in City’s favour that won them the game seemed to be a fairly harsh one from my viewpoint. Nicky Law did brilliantly to take on his man and dribble inside the box, but seemed to go to ground too easily (I haven’t seen the replay yet) and initially I thought Law was going to be booked for diving. But the referee pointed to the spot, and served as some compensation for the terrible offside decisions that were given against us attacking wise.
Battling Barry Conlon grabbed the ball and confidently stepped up to take the penalty (I must admit I wanted either Boulding or Thorne to take it!). What followed was an audacious chip (Dwight Yorke style in his heyday) that went straight down the middle for the Burly Irishman’s 100th League Goal highlighted by his flash of his undershirt in the goal celebration, which was rewarded with a booking.
City held on for the last 20 minutes against ten men (Goodall was sent off for a second bookable – his foul on Law inside the penalty area) largely thanks to an excellent save from Evans from a Jamie Ward effort, and TJ Moncur made a vital interception at the back at the death – nipping the ball away from Lester with the goal gaping inside the area.
Whilst they made it very hard for themselves, its hard to find anything to criticise about City’s under strength side tonight. Yes they started slowly – but their battling back from adversion is promotion form (demonstrated also away at Accrington to grab all three points).
Boulding had a productive night and never stopped running. Tom Clarke produced an effective display protecting his back four, as was his brief. And Lee really is producing “Captain Fantastic” performances consistently now – a really worthy replacement for David Wetherall. His strikes from set pieces are now something of a secret weapon ( 30 yards out against Bury, The winner away at MK Dons in the FA Cup and now tonight).
My only grip about tonight were my fellow supporters in the Midland Road stand. With 2 – 3 minutes remaining there was an exodus of people making their way to the exit. Having just seen their team produce a stunning comeback against a very strong side, surely the team are worthy of a standing ovation. Or at least a round of a applause from the over 11,000 home fans? No, some people want to leave early to “ miss the traffic”. It’s pathetic.
You either commit to supporting the team or you are simply a spectator with no heart in caring about the team when they deserve some support or a pat on the back. People would be quick to boo the entire game if the team lost but to not reward a winning team who have dug really deep to deliver an excellent result is really not on.
At the rate that people were leaving the ground before the final whistle it was like we had lost 4-0.
Anyway, well done to Stuart and the lads. Our position in the table is very encouraging. And what is more encouraging is that I don’t think we have even hit top gear yet. From the way things look tonight, a top three finish is very achievable by this team, who like to do things the hard way.
Great report. However, it was definitely a penalty. As the referee contemplated for ages over what decision to give (as he did all night) I watched Alan Goodall’s reaction, he had his hands on his head and knew the inevitable outcome.
With Chesterfield’s positive approach to attack the game and not to sit back with 11 men behind the ball, it provided the environment Michael Boulding’s been thriving for since coming to City, a chance to get in behind. I thought he looked very sharp and ran his socks off.
Does Stuart now need to identify a source for all our injury problems? Surely, it’s not all completely down to bad luck. Could it be anything to do with the appointment of Adam Cook to replace Steve Redmond as physio? However, I believe it is the training sessions being held at Apperley Bridge, the facilities are awful and it is notoriously heavy.
View from the Kop showed that Law was brought down and it was a clear penalty. The Chesterfield players didn’t even complain about the decision, which indicates that it was correct.
Bizarre performance last night in that I thought we were utterly wretched in the first half an hour, but did well afterwards, with Lee’s freekick giving us some impetus at the right time. Have to disagree that he’s looking solid, though; any time that he has to clear the ball with his left foot it slices high in the air and it’s a nervy experience watching our centre backs at the moment, as Matt Clarke looks shaky too.
The news about Omar is disappointing and hopefully he’ll come back more quickly than expected. Second place with your entire first choice midfield out is a great achievement, but is unlikely to be sustained if we don’t have some of them back soon.
Great game last night, thoroughly enjoyed it. Here’s hoping for a win against Orient and a money-spinner in the 3rd round.
From where I was sat (Back of lower tier of the Kop) there seemed little doubt about the penalty. Admittidly I have not seen replays however from being there if the decision had not gone our way I would have been mightily disappointed (although probably not surprised). Another thing that seems to be worth a mention is why was the Thornee goal ruled out? I can only imagine it was Barry who was offside as Thorne certainly didn’t seem to be. From my view though, there didn’t seem any concern that Barry was off. Great result and a great shift by the lads.
Good report, but wish the boo “fans” would stay away, dont they realise that we are operating on a thin pool of players because of all the injuries. Half of last nights starting line up were not first choice, the last two wins are a bonus given the absentees. Thought pen was fair decision, because Law had momentum taking him past the defender.
I agree about fans leaving – funnily can’t imagine fans leaving at an away game if we were winning! They would still be cheering 5 minutes after the whistle.
If you’ve lost 4-0 at home then leaving is a sign to the team, but when we win you have to support them to the end!
I understand your point about fans leaving early, but in this case I have to disagree. In standard circumstances, where supporters live within a 20 mile radius of Bradford, then I dont think they should leave early. However, I would like to point out that not all fans are this fortunate. Let me use my own situation as an example. I have followed City for approx 15 years, and have been a regular visitor to VP and also many away grounds during that time. Last season, due to my work commitments, I was living in London, but I still had a season ticket and did not miss any Saturday home games. This season, due in part to my love for the club, I have relocated to the north, but due to my line of work, I now live in Accrington, which is still an hours drive from VP. I am yet to miss a home game this season, but did leave a couple of minutes early on tuesday night. Even thouugh I did this, it was still gone eleven when I got home. I had been out since 8 that morning, and had gone straight to the game from my place of work in Liverpool (as I had also done for the Grimsby away game a few weeks ago).
I just feel, that although I take your point on board, there are many more factors that can dictate how loyal some fans are, other than whether they leave early once in a while.
I for example would never ever target one player for abuse, as seems to be the trend in the top tier of the kop this season. The stick that Barry Conlon was getting from some quartres earlier in the season was bang out of order, so much so that some who sit near me were jeering him, before he even came onto the field as a substitute. It has been a similar scenario with Joe Colbeck in recent years, and it is amazing how these fickle fans soon change their minds when the players fortunes take a turn for the better.