Bradford 1 – 2 MK Dons

In the sunshine of a beautiful April afternoon there was to be no fairytale ending for David Wetherall. Instead, in a pantomime of a match the MK Dons claimed a 2-1 victory that saw them leave, happily ever after, for the brighter lights of League One as champions.

After paying tribute to Bradford City’s captain, the two sides met in the centre of the park for an impeccably observed minute’s silence for the victims of 1985’s tragedy but that was the end of the good will on an afternoon marred by an appalling referee.

Ironically it was Karl Evan’s one good decision, the sending off of Joe Colbeck, that painted him in the role of Pantomime Villain for the rest of the afternoon and gave the Bantams home crowd a target for their passions throughout the game.

Joe deserved to go, of that there is no mistake but his indiscretion was no worse in the rules of the game than the two-footed lunge on Kyle Nix that ended the first, or the arms raised by Dean Lewington against Omar Daley mid way through the second.

Shamefully the litany of mistakes made by the man in black overshadowed an afternoon on which the ten men of City more than matched their all-conquering visitors – the MK Dons have won more games on the road than the Bantams have all season.

Things could have been so different for the heroic Wetherall, whose name was belted out all afternoon from all sides of the pitch, had Barry Conlon’s sweetly struck effort after five minutes found its way inside the post. Instead, the visitors broke to the other end where, in an almost carbon copy of last weekend, Lloyd Dyer was afforded far too much space by Darren Williams to deliver the ball across the face of goal for Jude Stirling to force the ball home at the far post.

Shortly after the restart, with the ball out for a throw-in, my fiancee, Christine, turned to me and asked ‘Why doesn’t Darren Williams want to mark his man today?’ A long throw in later, dropping at the feet of the unmarked Lloyd Dyer, and the Bantams were two down.

After having started so brightly it was cruel on the home side whose wingers were being well marshalled by Jude Stirling and Dean Lewington and for the next fifteen minutes City were rocking.

Again showing a dangerous prescience, Christine warned that Joe needed to avoid retaliating as Lewington continued to wind him up. His lunge at the red-headed left back saw the player of the year sent off (with the witty response of ‘you might be champions but you’ll still be ginger’ directed towards Lewington as he waited to return to the field) but this perceived wrong seemed to galvanise the Bradford City players into action.

And five minutes later the newly rechristened ‘One-Chance Omar’ set off on a dazzling run that culminated with him putting the ball into the net.

A one-goal deficit was the least that the Bantams deserved after their first half performance and Stuart sent his side back out for the second half determined to make up for their absent team-mate.

It is often said that playing against 10 men is harder than playing 11 but the numbers were perhaps evened out yesterday by the officials. One has to feel for the assistant referee who pointed for thirty seconds to the corner spot whilst the unsighted referee stubbornly awarded a goal kick. But the nadir of Karl Evans’ afternoon was when he ignored Aaron Wilbraham’s illegal return to the field of play to dispossess Scott Loach. Fortunately, the one-time Bantam contrived to hit the bar with the goal at his mercy.

Aside from that there weren’t a huge number of chances for either side. The visitors thought they’d bundled the ball in but a desperate clearance ensured they did not whilst at the other end David Wetherall’s headed went wide (when it ought to have gone in) and another goal-bound ball was well cleared off the line but the best chance of the afternoon fell to Peter Thorne who managed to poke it over when it was surely easier to score.

We may have lost but we did so entertainingly. I was disappointed to hear so many around me saying they wouldn’t be renewing their season tickets. We’ve not been incredible this year but aside from Stuart’s first four months in charge the Ginger Messiah can sit back and reflect on a satisfactory year that is all but certain to end in 9th.

But we’re going to have to do it the hard way, without any help from the referee!

Player Ratings

Scott Loach – 6
Couple of great saves, couple of dodgy moments. But I’ll be rooting for Watford to go up so we can keep him for next season

Darren Williams – 5
Not his best afternoon and culpable for maybe both goals but crucial goal line clearance restores some pride

Paul Heckingbottom – 6
Pretty solid but let down by some shoddy free kick deliveries

David Wetherall
I can’t give him a number, it would just be too biased in honour of his final home appearance

Mark Bower – 6
Pretty solid in the centre and mostly kept Wilbraham quiet

Kyle Nix – 7
Industrious and hard working in the middle but all too often lost the ball by taking too long on the ball

Joe Colbeck – 4
Moment of stupidity saw his POTY award followed up with a red card but he’ll bounce back

Eddie Johnson – 6
Showed a lot more commitment second half but seems to now be a defensive midfielder. Wonder who’s more confused? Him or us? Needs to find his place on the pitch but will probably get a new contract (if he takes a pay cut)

Barry Conlon – 7
Worked hard and was well involved, didn’t waste the ball and kept trying to make things happened. Had two chances, made something of each rather than wasting them poorly

Peter Thorne – 67
Played well and could well be next year’s captain?

Omar Daley – 7
Much improved on recent weeks. One chance, one goal and tracked back fantastically. Early withdrawal probably to do with running himself into the ground. Still has much to do in terms of his vision with the ball at feet

Alex Rhodes
Didn’t look like he knew where he was meant to be playing but he and Wethers together up front caused a bit of confusion for everyone which might have almost snatched an equaliser