BfB

Stuart McCall never got to the by-line.

He never skinned a full back and he never cut inside.

Little legs and a low centre of gravity Stuart McCall would have been a rubbish winger but his City team is all about the men on the flanks.

Omar Daley’s random darts have confused enough defences this year to make him one of City’s most dangerous players and the route of lots of chances but while no one else can understand a word he says Referees can and have booked him enough to suspend him.

Joe Colbeck offers something different but still important for City beating men with accurate crosses but injury at Grimsby has him sidelined and Stuart is left looking for new wingers.

Nicky Law did a reasonable job on Tuesday night but did not give the supply line that Colbeck or Daley does and Kyle Nix might be able to do what Joe does but movie left but only on a good day and the Rothstrailian hasn’t had one of those in a while.

So options like Leon Osbourn and Billy Topp in a wide role are getting talked about. Expect one to sit on the bench but Nix and Law to be the guys next to Paul McLaren and the brilliant Dean Furman.

Similarly up front Barry’s heroic header on Tuesday will bring him a place on the bench behind Peter Thorne and Michael Boulding.

At the back Matt Clarke is back and could replace Tom Clarke which would be harsh on the loan player from Udders who did well alongside Graeme Hammer Boot Lee. Tom Moncur and Luke O’Brien are full backs with Rhys Evans in net.

Barnet are without Jason Puncheon since last year after if wowed then transferred but they do have Luke Medley now which says a lot about where the club seems to be going.

They messed about in the top half of the table for a bit but are bottom half now. Expect a battle but one City can win if the squad can keep in mind the fact that the flying wingers are not replicated.

Not so much Plan B as Style B.

The home fans had given up on this one. City rattled the Barnet posts and 1-1 was going to be 2-1 to the visitors unless the Referee stopped the game and in injury time it looked like The Bantams would be going north with a point at the very least. Up stepped Jason Puncheon to put in the sort of free kick we thought only Paul Evans could take.

Paul Evans and Puncheon had met after ten minutes of the game and City’s tank like midfielder came off worst and then came off to be replaced by Scott Phelan who seems to be ready to play Evans’s part kicking everything in midfield but The Bantams missed the tank in the middle and came under pressure.

Pressure that all centred around Puncheon who was a thorn in the side of City all afternoon. We were promised a debut from Peter Thorne for the Bantams after his scoring in a reserve win during the week but the hit man did not show and City were slow to convert chances into goals. Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu looks the part some of the time and runs the channels well and Barry Conlon holds the ball up well but neither look like being the goal threat that can turn possession into goals. Luke Medley came on and didn’t score! First time for everything I guess.

Eddie Johnson scored – twice. EJ banged one in either end slicing a Puncheon free kick into his own net in the first half and replying by banging a left footed shot from a good distance in the second. Someone pipes up that with two in two Johnson could shove our goal scoring problems and then everyone remembers that he is a forward after all and chins get stroked.

Is Omar Daley a forward? Who knows? He moves up front and hits the post twice and City look the team most likely but pace aside Daley looks like his leg would snap if he were to give the ball a good League Two leathering and that is what this team needs. Stuart McCall has got the lads into a shoot on sight policy that rains shots at goal but a smarter striker who can take up positions to get onto Barry Conlon’s hard work or the wing play of Kyle Nix and Daley or Joe Colbeck might solve a few problems.

Not that there are that many problems for City. The free kick at the end was a bit of a fluke (Do that again Punchy – go on! I dare you) and the own goal self-inflicted. But for all the time when the Bantams put in 90 minutes of match winning work and lose then confidence is going to suffer.