More About David Brown
Wycombe Wanderers 2 Bradford City 1 - League Two
The first thing to say about this game is that it is proof that City should have got out of this league at the first attempt.
Well perhaps not should have but could have. Wycombe Wanderers are in the play offs but they are no one’s idea of a good football team and if they do go through the play offs I wouldn’t expect them to last a season in League One.
If only… is the theme of the day.
If only City had not had had that really poor spell in October. If only Stuart McCall had got to grips with managing earlier. If only Mark Lawn and McCall had been installed beforeDarlington had signed nine players. If only…
Delroy Facey’s goal in the first five minutes was a big if only. If City are to move on then this venerable naivety needs to be stamped out by McCall. Leon Knight got a second and City were not that the races. A penalty came when Diddy David Brown was thrown to the ground and Luke Medley scored but next season if City don’t want another season of If Onlys then we need to make sure that when we come to places like this that we put up more of a solid defence. Teams that go places don’t concede in the first five minutes.
But this is end of the season and who cares? We have been in preparation for next year for a while now and this was the Bantams more of less on the beach for the summer.
Eddie Johnson already is away somewhere now we have released him. I’m going to miss the idea that Eddie Johnson more than watching him. I always got the feeling watching Eddie that he was at 80% and that he had no idea how to unlock the other 20% and nor did Colin Todd or Stuart McCall. It was probably because he had come through Man United. Had he been Eddie Johnson signed from Farsley he would have been “could be good”.
Next season McCall has to bring in a good quality of player if the likes of Eddie Johnson get turfed out. He needs two new keepers and I liked Scott Loach but I won’t miss him if he goes for good. He flaps at crosses too much and I don’t like loan players. I like Ben Starosta and I hope he can sign for us next year but if he can’t then I don’t see Simon Francis’s name on the team sheet as often at Southend as I should do…
Mark Bower and Matt Clarke at central defense? Ok then. Paul Heckingbottom? Sure. He is good enough if the players around him are good enough and no one ever didn’t go anywhere because of the full backs. Stephen Wright after all.
Joe Colbeck on the right hand side and Lee Bullock in the middle are not a midfield. Stuart needs to pull out some impressive signings here. He needs to find a Peter Beagrie to supply crosses and he needs a Stuart McCall to win the ball and without wanting to put too much stress on the Gaffer that is the most important position on the field. Whoever he get there needs to work out a Hell of a lot better than Paul Evans.
But if McCall can get a McCall and a Beagrie in then the sky is the limit cause City have an attack that no one else in the league can match. Peter Thorne is smart and finishes brilliant, Barry Conlon has the effort, Willy Topp the skills and Omar Daley who is more of a striker than a winger cause strikers should be greedy has the pace to beat anyone in the league. Something to beat any defence in League Two next season.
So it call comes down to if Stuart McCall can find a Stuart McCall…
Bradford City 1 Chesterfield 0 - League Two
The phrase on everyone’s lips tells of Peter Thorne - who impressively headed home a Ben Starosta cross to claim his 12 goal of the season after 14 minutes of this game which had little distinction - and how had he been fit then the Bantams would with ease swap with Chesterfield and be pushing for the play off places.
To suggest that Chesterfield looked lifeless is to denigrate zombies. Without Jack Lester and Jamie Ward the visitors on the whole looked as threatening as the Bantams did during the seven game run without wins that has coloured the season at Valley Parade and represents this Thorne-less time.
Thorne’s goal came from an impressively direct run from Joe Colbeck who flushed in on the promise he showed and justifies now the backing he got from those who did not barrack. Colbeck got on the end of a nice bit of scrapping by Tom Penford in the midfield and ran down the throat of the Chesterfield back line drawing the left back before releasing the ball to Starosta who’s cross found Thorne who found the only goal of the game. Stuart McCall starts talking to Peter Thorne about a new contract this morning but looking at how the vistors failed to mount a serious response to the 34 year old striker’s goal in the first seventy minutes of the game the City gaffer would do well to look at making sure he has more strikers than he needs.
Willy Topp looks promising with his deft touch but he play is over engineered and he needs the pre-season to get to grips with the English game and his team mates. David Brown - who replaced Topp after an hour - is impossibly small and needs to learn what his skills are on a field. Twice he turned the Chesterfield back line and would have been away were it not for crude trips but both those times came when he had the ball fed into him to allow him to spin off defenders. We will not go anywhere good next season if we repeat the sight of Diddy David trying to out jump defenders.
Thorne, Topp and Brown though should all be in the squad for next season as McCall starts to look at contracts for next time. Kyle Nix impresses some but not all but as a convert I’m hoping that he can be tied down longer term and this writer’s appreciation of the skills of Tom Penford are well known but increasingly shared. Penford was edged out for the man of the match by Colbeck yesterday but the oft around Midfielder’s display deserved plaudits as he moved the ball well and anchored a midfield along with Nix. One worried that Chesterfield hardly pressed on the Bantams central area but in the spirit of only being able to beat the teams one is put up against Penford and Nix can be very pleased with their afternoon.
In many ways Penford plays the type of game that Paul Evans should be doing week in week out closing down men when needed and moving the ball on efficiently but as Penford plays solidly and without thrills Evans never settled into a groove of performance and just as missing Peter Thorne all season has hamstrung the Bantams so the inability to have Evans play as Evans can left a hole in the side. Penford filled that hole effectively yesterday and a midfield pairing of Tom and Lee Bullock is not unimpressive.
Unimpressive but having claimed a clean sheet were the old double act of David Wetherall and Mark Bower - they just about held out - and Scott Loach will be at St James’s next season making saves and having a questionable command of his box. It will be like Shay Given never went away.
Praise too as McCall starts to look at whom can be leveraged out of clubs for Ben Starosta who impressed in many ways yesterday and would be a cracking player for League Two next year should be he lifted from Bramall Lane. Paul Heckingbottom improved yesterday and looked good.
And looking good was the aim of the game with Chesterfield either not playing well or not allowed to play well the Bantams took plaudits and points and deservedly so despite a couple of raps on the door after seventy minutes which can be chalked off against Thorne’s controlled shot which should have had his second and David Brown’s spurning of a chance to give Colbeck a richly deserved goal.
Bradford City 1 Bury 2 - League Two
City were made to pay for a lethargic second half performance by an Andy Bishop double, that inflicted our first defeat of 2008.
All seemed well in the first period, especially when Peter Thorne nodded home a brilliant left side cross from Tom Penford to give City the lead on 23.
But, in truth , somewhat surprisingly , Bury quite often looked like a threat - even more so than when they played City in their home game a couple of weeks ago. This threat was highlighted in the first half, when Wetherall was forced to head against his own post in the early exchanges, as Bury forced a few corners and put the City defense under some pressure which we never looked too convincing dealing with.
When Thorne opened the scoring, the odds would seem to favour City finishing the game with the 3 points and climbing into the top half of the table in good form.
However, then came the first of three key incidents that shaped this game. On the stroke of halftime, City attacked down the right with a through ball that looked certain to catch Bury out, after some smart play by Omar Daley. The through ball played looked to have City with 4 attackers facing just two Bury defenders, and with all the City attackers appearing yards onside (as was clearly viewable from all sections of the Midland Road stand) - the linesman flagged, seemingly for offside.
This decision incensed the home fans and particularly Stuart McCall, who was enraged at this appalling decision. A goal at that key point would have surely settled this contest, and a chorus of boo’s rang out around Valley Parade, not due to the performance, but more due to the poor officiating once again.
But as the home fans tucked into their half time Steak and Kidney, there weren’t many who would have predicted an unlikely second half comeback from lowly Bury.
City came out in the second half without any conviction whatsoever. Stuart’s halftime team talk seemed to have a completely adverse affect on the attitude of the players in this game. Omar Daley was hardly in the match, Eddie Johnson did not stamp his authority on the game whatsoever, and Willy Topp flattered to deceive before being substituted for last weeks match winner David Brown (who shocked the home fans with his infantile like appearance!) on 65.
Early in the second half David Wetherall was adjudged to have pulled Andy Bishop to the ground in the area and the referee swiftly pointed to the spot. The decision seemed slightly harsh and soft – but Wetherall was guilty of the exact same offense at the end of last year away at Mansfield, when the referee also pointed to the spot. On both occasions, Wetherall definitely did tug the shirt of the opposition player, and you would think that a player of David’s experience would have understood that you simply cannot get away with that in the modern game – even in League Two. Any contact in the penalty area or shirt tugging almost always results in a penalty.
Bishop stepped up and smashed in the equalizer from the spot.
And so the game continued, with City never really testing the Bury defense. Any saves were having to be made at the other end, from the on-loan Scott Loach in the City goal.
Then came another shocking decision. Statrosa was adjusted to have fouled just on the edge of our own area – a decision which beggared belief. What followed was a moment of class from stiker Andy Bishop – who is, by far, the best player I have seen play in this league. A smart free kick routine ended with Bishop curling the ball into the top corner which left City distraught and Bury heading across the M62 with all three points.
This was an expected defeat which left a sour taste in the mouth after the horrendous officiating display. But nevertheless, the players need to take responsibility for this one. The second half display was truly appalling and certainly was not one worthy of picking up three points. Having been on such a good run recently, why was the desire not there to finish off one of the bottom teams in the league at home?
Next week Rochdale will certainly not be any easier an opponent, but lets hope our game gets raised accordingly and keep the belief alive. The playoffs are not out of reach, but any more reversals like this at home will see us finish in mid table obscurity come May.