Bradford City 0-1 Exeter City - Match Report for Bantams Banter.
Bradford City are currently gripped by cup fever & the prospect of getting a hand on a golden ticket for the Arsenal game saw non season ticket holding supporters out in force which meant the glory days of our early League Two days attendances had returned & hopefully the boost for the lads would be delivered along with it. Unfortunately it just turned into the second chapter of the story of frustrating home defeats.
The game had a slow & sloppy flow to it with the only two moments to even mention from the first ten minutes coming first for a Danny Coles header which went narrowly wide of Matt Duke’s post with Jimmy Hanson doing the exact same down the other end but with Artur Krysiak the lucky keeper who got to watch the ball trickle wide. The game suddenly sprung into life with Hanson inches from tapping home an inswinging cross from Craig Forsyth who I think is very much Atkinson Mk II & Krysiak doing well to stop Nahki after he nearly tapped home from a Hanson knockdown.
The visitors’ Polish stopper must have been sick of the sight of Nahki after the Bermudan sensation turned & struck sweetly after some well worked route one football from City but then the referee decided to take centre stage like a clown does in a circus. After a very harsh booking on Gary Jones for clipping Alan Gow he then watched on as Krysiak ran out of the box with balls in hand much to the dismay of everybody not associated with Exeter City in the ground. Liam Sercombe fired over before Exeter City finally found a break through.
Craig Woodman put a deep inswinging cross into the Bantams box with the veterans then uniting. Matt Oakley not only headed across the box to Jamie Cureton but committed a clear foul in the process on his marker but the near 40 year old Cureton wonderfully & rather acrobatically turned home past Duke to break the deadlock for the hosts. Exeter City then saw out the remaining three minutes of the first half to bring the game to a close.
Half time brought some joy as we got to witness the forever beautiful Zumba Girls. Further prove that the saying once on the chips... You know the rest is true. But, they’re choice in music meant we got to see Gangnam Style throughout VP but through it all one thought was going through my head, is this Port Vale at home all over? The second half proved for once my thoughts came into reality.
Half time saw Alan Connell thrown on by Phil Parkinson in an attempt to grasp full control with Exeter counteracting this decision by throwing the man who shall be forever remembered as the man who didn’t care nor tried, Tommy Doherty. The second half unlike the first was filled with talking points & controversial decisions.
Alan Gow nearly doubled the visitors lead before City’s full control took effect. Krysiak was forced into stopping not just a Nahki effort but an Egan header & fantastic chip by super sub himself Alan Connell. Duke then matched his opposite number tit for tat with a fantastic last ditch tackle to prevent Cureton grabbing his second after Rory McArdle’s very, very poor backpass.
Then the referee returned to centre stage. Steve Tully blocked Nahki Wells off in the box even throwing in a cheeky elbow in the process to stop the Nahk getting through with the referee only looking on a bemused action & his linesman proving as inept as the man in the middle. The game quietened down for ten minutes with only another elbow related penalty shout, this time on Hanson providing something to write about.
While I’ve got your attention regarding the Referee, I’ll list five points from his performance which annoyed me massively:
- Missed a clear penalty shout on Nahki & look bemused when City tried to claim it.
- Ignored any complaint from the players to the point in which Alan Connell had to scream & shout as aggressively as possible in order to get his attention.
- Missed two clear elbows, one in the face of Nahki Wells & another in the back of James Hanson’s head.
- The Artur Krysiak handball. Does he know the perimeters of the area?
- Blew for the little things more than the big things.
Gary Jones (He’s magic you know!) put in another absolutely awesome corner but James Hanson could only head over. Now, while I’m talking about the former shelfstacker let’s have a rant shall we? Hanson is constantly moaned & slagged off by our fans but why? I’ll tell you why! Because he wins everything in the air, every little thing but his teammates aren’t in space or the gaps to get the ball & go on & score but you make him the scapegoat. Not impressed.
Right, back to the game. Duke saved again & Doherty was booked for bringing down Will ‘Messi’ Atkinson with an absolutely disgusting challenge only a Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira would get away with then it was time for a goalmouth scramble! McHugh put a teasing ball into the six yard box with Exeter’s Danny Coles & Artur Krysiak taking turns nearly putting the ball into the net & saving themselves as Nahki & the Exeter defence looked on in despair. It was one of those afternoons in which nothing was going to fall for the Bantams.
Garry Thompson was then thrown on for 15 minutes he will want to forget as he looked like a legs gone Michael Flynn rather than the exciting Morecambe winger McCall & Lawn once fought so hard for. He kept being out done by the Exeter full back & had two chances which he wasted. The first in which he would have been better passing the ball but instead he went for glory & reached the Bantams Bar with a shot which flew high into the stand. The second of which fell to his foot & instead of tapping home for glory he embarrassingly sliced wide much to the relief of the visitors who then saw the game out much to the frustration of all within VP.
Bradford City are currently gripped by cup fever & the prospect of getting a hand on a golden ticket for the Arsenal game saw non season ticket holding supporters out in force which meant the glory days of our early League Two days attendances had returned & hopefully the boost for the lads would be delivered along with it. Unfortunately it just turned into the second chapter of the story of frustrating home defeats.
The game had a slow & sloppy flow to it with the only two moments to even mention from the first ten minutes coming first for a Danny Coles header which went narrowly wide of Matt Duke’s post with Jimmy Hanson doing the exact same down the other end but with Artur Krysiak the lucky keeper who got to watch the ball trickle wide. The game suddenly sprung into life with Hanson inches from tapping home an inswinging cross from Craig Forsyth who I think is very much Atkinson Mk II & Krysiak doing well to stop Nahki after he nearly tapped home from a Hanson knockdown.
The visitors’ Polish stopper must have been sick of the sight of Nahki after the Bermudan sensation turned & struck sweetly after some well worked route one football from City but then the referee decided to take centre stage like a clown does in a circus. After a very harsh booking on Gary Jones for clipping Alan Gow he then watched on as Krysiak ran out of the box with balls in hand much to the dismay of everybody not associated with Exeter City in the ground. Liam Sercombe fired over before Exeter City finally found a break through.
Craig Woodman put a deep inswinging cross into the Bantams box with the veterans then uniting. Matt Oakley not only headed across the box to Jamie Cureton but committed a clear foul in the process on his marker but the near 40 year old Cureton wonderfully & rather acrobatically turned home past Duke to break the deadlock for the hosts. Exeter City then saw out the remaining three minutes of the first half to bring the game to a close.
Half time brought some joy as we got to witness the forever beautiful Zumba Girls. Further prove that the saying once on the chips... You know the rest is true. But, they’re choice in music meant we got to see Gangnam Style throughout VP but through it all one thought was going through my head, is this Port Vale at home all over? The second half proved for once my thoughts came into reality.
Half time saw Alan Connell thrown on by Phil Parkinson in an attempt to grasp full control with Exeter counteracting this decision by throwing the man who shall be forever remembered as the man who didn’t care nor tried, Tommy Doherty. The second half unlike the first was filled with talking points & controversial decisions.
Alan Gow nearly doubled the visitors lead before City’s full control took effect. Krysiak was forced into stopping not just a Nahki effort but an Egan header & fantastic chip by super sub himself Alan Connell. Duke then matched his opposite number tit for tat with a fantastic last ditch tackle to prevent Cureton grabbing his second after Rory McArdle’s very, very poor backpass.
Then the referee returned to centre stage. Steve Tully blocked Nahki Wells off in the box even throwing in a cheeky elbow in the process to stop the Nahk getting through with the referee only looking on a bemused action & his linesman proving as inept as the man in the middle. The game quietened down for ten minutes with only another elbow related penalty shout, this time on Hanson providing something to write about.
While I’ve got your attention regarding the Referee, I’ll list five points from his performance which annoyed me massively:
- Missed a clear penalty shout on Nahki & look bemused when City tried to claim it.
- Ignored any complaint from the players to the point in which Alan Connell had to scream & shout as aggressively as possible in order to get his attention.
- Missed two clear elbows, one in the face of Nahki Wells & another in the back of James Hanson’s head.
- The Artur Krysiak handball. Does he know the perimeters of the area?
- Blew for the little things more than the big things.
Gary Jones (He’s magic you know!) put in another absolutely awesome corner but James Hanson could only head over. Now, while I’m talking about the former shelfstacker let’s have a rant shall we? Hanson is constantly moaned & slagged off by our fans but why? I’ll tell you why! Because he wins everything in the air, every little thing but his teammates aren’t in space or the gaps to get the ball & go on & score but you make him the scapegoat. Not impressed.
Right, back to the game. Duke saved again & Doherty was booked for bringing down Will ‘Messi’ Atkinson with an absolutely disgusting challenge only a Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira would get away with then it was time for a goalmouth scramble! McHugh put a teasing ball into the six yard box with Exeter’s Danny Coles & Artur Krysiak taking turns nearly putting the ball into the net & saving themselves as Nahki & the Exeter defence looked on in despair. It was one of those afternoons in which nothing was going to fall for the Bantams.
Garry Thompson was then thrown on for 15 minutes he will want to forget as he looked like a legs gone Michael Flynn rather than the exciting Morecambe winger McCall & Lawn once fought so hard for. He kept being out done by the Exeter full back & had two chances which he wasted. The first in which he would have been better passing the ball but instead he went for glory & reached the Bantams Bar with a shot which flew high into the stand. The second of which fell to his foot & instead of tapping home for glory he embarrassingly sliced wide much to the relief of the visitors who then saw the game out much to the frustration of all within VP.