Same old, same old. We dominated the game, took the lead, bossed the stats big time in that we had 60% of the possession, had 3 times the number of shots compared to our opponents, 17 to their 6, 9 of which on target to their 4 and corners we had 12 to Scunthorpe’s 3. Discipline we committed only 5 fouls whilst Scunthorpe were a bit more meatier with 14. So with taking a lead in a game where the stats read like that, why did we throw it away within a minute?
It isn’t the first time we defend resolutely and boss a game, but the minute we score, we just can’t help ourselves and let one slip in, City isn’t the only team to be guilty of this strange phenomenon, but why does a team concede a goal within a minute of taking the lead after denying the opposition for a full half of the game as in Tuesday night’s match, or in some cases deep into injury time at the end of a game.
Home comforts – like a hole in the head.
A couple of days ago I praised how well we are on the road, with us having the best record in League 1 thus far this season, even with Scunthorpe’s win at Valley Parade, we still head the table due to a better goal difference even with having played a game less than the 2nd and 3rd best teams. What about home though?
Terrible, looking at the home table, we are 17th in League 1 accruing 13 points from a possible 30, yes 30 at Valley Parade, we have lost more games than we have won on home soil, in fact, only Northampton Town and Plymouth Argyle have lost more times than City at home this season in the 3rd division. 4 wins and 5 losses with a single draw, but hey, McCall has done what he has set out to do, get rid of all these draws.
Paul Taylor who is getting a shot at matches now scored his 3rd Bantam goal in his 16th City game on 44 minutes. I always love a goal literally just before half time, the interlude can just dampen any immediate reaction, but is 1 minute too long for us to keep our composure and concentration? Colin Doyle went off with a knee injury and could prove to be a big loss if out for any period of time, and 2 goals from ex Huddersfield Town youngster Duane Holmes and Hakeeb Adelakun rounded off a miserable night.
When we play away, I feel confident we just might have a chance this season, but the reality of a home game just instils we are a million miles away to be good enough to even finish in the play off places come season end. As it is going, I think we will finish about 7th or 8th at best come May. We are now 5th by default, I will use the word default because Blackburn who are 2 points below the Bantams have 2 games in hand who lie in 6th and a couple of teams below us have a game in hand and our season can change dramatically whilst Stuart McCall is watching the score updates on the internet. Did you know, our home stats is exactly the same as bottom of the table Bury!!! We both have 4 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses, scored 10 and conceded 11. That really doesn’t make comfortable reading to the supporters that hope we might be good enough to get to Wembley and walk away winners, especially when we are 1 of those 4 Bury victories.
We didn’t deserve to lose.
If anyone says that, utter rubbish, if anything we deserved to lose even more because we were the so called “better” team. If we outplayed the opposition, had a couple of clear cut chances to put the game to bed and find ourselves scoring less goals, there is no one to blame but ourselves, and the opposition. I really do hope McCall doesn’t come out saying we deserved to get something out of the game. Here is a news flash, no we didn’t, we didn’t do enough, that’s why a “worse team on the night” in this case, Scunthorpe United took the 3 points from us in our own back yard and it isn’t the first time either this past season and half. If this was a boxing match, we would throw a hundred punches, every single one landing, some rocking our opponent, but the first punch to land on us would knock us out, we are the Lennox Lewis of the footballing world and we just faced Oliver McCall. That is City at the moment. There is not a single game we deserved to win that we should have won this season, same with draws, even the games we win and some say we shouldn’t have (Portsmouth springs to mind), we won on merit fair and square so were deserved them, that’s why points are awarded to the team that scores the most goals, not who plays better, this isn’t the Olympics. You get what you deserve in football 100% of the time. You either do enough at both ends of the pitch, or you don’t, we didn’t, Scunthorpe United did.
Result
Half Time City 1-1 Scunny
Paul Taylor (44), Duane Holmes (45)
Full Time City 1-2 Scunny
Hakeeb Adelakun (69)
Card watch
What’s the difference between a yellow card and a home win for City? City might earn a yellow card every couple of months. Yep, you’ve guessed it, we didn’t have a player go into the book again. Lack of results, lack of cards, is there a link?
Ref watch
Scott Duncan has handed out quite a few cards this season and sent a few off over the past few months. Duncan has refereed 11 Championship games in 2017/18, in total officiating 19 games in all competitions handing out 50 yellows and 4 reds. 3 Iron players saw yellow, Murray Wallace (19), Neil Bishop (73) and Tom Hopper (90). Wallace and Hopper are now both a booking away from receiving a suspension.
Attendance
19163
Line ups
Bradford City 4-4-2
Colin Doyle (46 Rouven Sattelmaier), Matt Kilgallon, Luke Hendrie (84 Tyrell Robinson), Nat Knight-Percival, Tony McMahon, Jake Reeves, Romain Vincelot, Nicky Law (81 Dominic Poleon), Alex Gillead, Charlie Wyke, Paul Taylor
Scunthorpe United 4-4-2
Matthew Gilks, Jordan Clarke, Murray Wallace, Cameron Burgess, Rory McArdle, Funso Ojo, Neil Bishop, Hakeeb Adelakun (78 Charlie Goode), Duane Holmes (74 Conor Townsend), Tom Hopper, Lee Novak (43 Patrick Madden)
2017/18 City Scorers
8 – Charlie Wyke
5 – Alex Jones
4 – Dominic Poleon, Romain Vincelot
3 – Patrick Omari, Paul Taylor
2 – Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Matt Kilgallon
1 – Shay McCartan, Jacob Hanson, Tony McMahon, Adam Thompson, Alex Gillead, Tyrell Robinson
Upcoming fixtures
Shrewsbury Town (A) Sat 25th Nov
Plymouth Argyle (H) Sat 2nd Dec
Rochdale (H) Sat 9th Dec
Southend United (A) Sat 16th Dec
AFC Wimbledon (A) Sat 23rd Dec
