A Point Needed To Be Made Post McCall.

First game post Stuart McCall and what shall we make of it? Going into half time it made a nice change we had the lions share of the possession, but Bury still had almost the double of shots than the Bantams. At least we weren’t losing and the most important goal has to be bucking the trend. One thing City were prone to was conceding early into the 2nd half under McCall and was something that has cost many a point over the past season and half, so it made a refreshing change to see City take the initiative just before the hour mark as Timothee Dieng registered his 6th career league goal, his 5th for the Bantams.

Have things got better?
Well, it was for a few minutes, and I can’t remember the last time I cheered seeing my club take the lead, but it wasn’t to last long, home to the bottom team we then gave up the lead only 4 minutes later as Nathan Cameron scored his 2nd of the season to bring Bury back into it. After a run of 6 straight defeats, If I am publicly honest, before kick off I would have accepted a draw, just to end this abysmal run and not wanting to see City notch up our 7th consecutive loss. With Stockbridge not shy handing out cards, with 3 City players booked, I was hoping that we wouldn’t do anything rash. Well, Kilgallon got booked twice in the space of 10 minutes and City now down to 10 men with the scores level. Big Jim Hanson came on prior to that in the 2nd half for Bury and any Bantam will know what danger the ex City legend can pose. But can Bury use their numerical advantage and get some long balls into Hanson? Well, that was the fear, but not for Shay McCartan who made it 2-1 with barely minutes to go. Go on my son, but Stockbridge wasn’t too impressed by the Bantam’s celebration and awarded him a yellow. Seb the spoilsport Stockbridge thought this game was about him, surely he should have applied a bit of common sense as the player sensed this was our first win in 7 games and warned the player rather than booking him. Surely this is our first win for what has felt like a millennia. All I can say is George Miller is a git. 2-2.

A draw I will take considering our terrible form, and like previous poor forms like our current one over the past decade, each time they have ended with a draw. The pattern continues with this latest loss run finishing with a home draw, but now let’s build on from this long awaited point. 1 point from 18 feels like a massive achievement and 1 draw in 7 games now, especially as we were down to 10 men. It is looking like the tough decision to remove the manager last week is paying off as we didn’t lose again, but what is a concern, City had 11 shots whilst Bury had 25 at Valley Parade and that is a massive worry to say we had 62% of the possession. Our last draw came a week under 4 months ago, but this is the first time I am happy with a draw against the basement team considering the circumstances.

Result
Half time City 0-0 Bury
Full Time City 2-2 Bury
Timothee Dieng (58), Nathan Cameron (62), Shay McCartan (89), George Miller (90)

Card watch
Tony McMahon (9) – season total – 7 yellows
Dominic Poleon (19) – season total – 2 yellows
Matt Kilgallon (70, 79) – season total – 4 yellows, 1 red
Shay McCartan (90) – season total – 3 yellows
Charlie Wyke (90) – season total – 2 yellows, 1 red

Ref watch
Seb Stockbridge/b> officiated his first City game since March last year when City won 2-1 at home to Southend. City went through a spell recently with avoiding getting a single player booked. This weekend saw City get a player send off for the first time since Charlie Wyke saw red in the dieing minutes on 30th December as City beat Oxford 3-2 at home. 6 City bookings and 2 Bury players, 8 bookings in total, 2 of which for Kilgallon resulting in a 2nd half red. In total Seb has handed out in 42 games, 169 yellows and 10 reds this season.

Attendance
19476

Line ups
Bradford City 4-4-2
Colin Doyle, Ryan McGowan, Adam Chicksen, Matt Kilgallon, Tony McMahon, Romain Vincelot, Timothee Dieng, Alex Gilliead (82 Nat Knight-Percival), Tyrell Robinson (65 Paul Taylor), Charlie Wyke, Dominic Poleon (74 Shay McCartan)
Subs not usesd: Lukas Raeder, Jordan Gibson, Stephen Warnock, Callum Guy

Bury 4-2-3-1
Connor Ripley, Gregory Leigh, Phil Edwards, Nathan Cameron, Peter Clarke (90 Christopher Maguire), Danny Mayor, Zeli Ismail (59 James Hanson), Josh Laurent, Neil Danns (90 Andrew Tutte), Harry Bunn, George Miller
Subs not used: Joe Murphy, Adam Thompson, Stephen Dawson, Callum Styles

2017/18 City Scorers
13 – Charlie Wyke
6 – Dominic Poleon, Paul Taylor
5 – Alex Jones, Romain Vincelot, Shay McCartan
3 – Patrick Omari, Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Matt Kilgallon
2 – Tyrell Robinson, Alex Gilliead, Timothee Dieng
1 – Jacob Hanson, Tony McMahon, Adam Thompson, Jordan Gibson
1 – Own goals, Aristote Nsiala (Shrewsbury Town)

Upcoming fixtures
Charlton Athletic (A) Tues 13th Feb
Wigan Athletic (H) Sat 17th Feb
Plymouth Argyle (A) Sat 24th Feb
Portsmouth (H) Sat 3rd Mar
Wigan Athletic (H) Sat 14th Mar