Rhodes to Victory

After two defeats at Home against Rochdale and Bury respectively i travelled to Meadow Lane Nottingham wondering which Bradford City side would turn up for this League Two encounter against Notts County.
City’s form Away from Home since Christmas bode well but the overhaul jekyll and Hyde performances of this season made me cautious to say the least before kick off about predicting the outcome.
Bradford supporters once again turned out in numbers to cheer the Bantams on.They certainly got their monies worth,nearly a thousand witnessed a committed attacking display in an open and enthralling game.
The first half was scrappy in places with both sides failing to make possession count in and around the box.
Notts County Lonee Russell Hoult was the busier of the two keepers in the first 45 minutes.
Hoult used all his experience to firstly thwart Billy Topp then he denied Eddie Johnson’s thunderous shot with a fine reaction save.
Willy Topp looked certain to break his goalscoring duck but he fired over the bar after a superb pass from Joe Colbeck.

H/T Notts County 0 Bradford City 0

The half time team chat from the Bradford management duo McCall and Jacobs must have still been ringing in the players ears as they entered the field to a raptuous applause from the away section.
Loach was called into action from the off punching a ball away unconvincingly from a bending goal bound shot.
Loach could do nothing to stop County from taking the lead.Bradford debutant T.J.Moncur failed to clear the ball and County striker Jarvis pounced to shoot low into the right corner of the net.

Notts County 1 Bradford 0

One nil down McCall made a match winning substitution,on came Alex Rhodes for Willy Topp.The next 13 minutes would shape the final outcome of the game.as City gave their fans something to shout about.
Moncur swiftly made up for his earlier error with a superb 40 yard pass on to the chest of Thorne,who controlled and drilled his shot past Hoult.

Notts County 1 Bradford City 1

County looked shell shocked as City piled forward looking for another goal.Alex Rhodes was enjoying the freedom of space the Notts defenders were giving him and it wasn’t long before he gave McCall another timely reminder of his skills.Rhodes delivered a low cross into the box,the ball took a slight deflection of a defender and fell kindly into the path of Joe Colbeck who found the net with a first time strike.

Notts County 1 Bradford City 2

Rhodes again crowned a fine display of attacking football with a terrific counter attacking strike,he broke away down the left,exchanged passes with Omar Daley before racing clear with a tremendous burst of speed and coolly chipping the ball over the advancing Hoult.

Notts County 1 Bradford City 3

Notts County tried to salvage something out of the game but Loach was equal to anything their forwards could muster in the closing stages pulling off two creditable saves notably from ex Bantam Spencer Weir Daley.
City finished strongly and could of added to their goal tally,twice Hoult made great saves in the closing stages. First to deny Daley and then Thorne.
Final Score.
Notts County 1 Bradford City 3

Player Ratings

Loach 6
Looked Confident again.

Starosta 6
Had to work hard to contain their winger.

T.J. Moncur 7
Solid debut everyone makes mistakes and he produced the pass of the game for me.

Wetherall 6
Supported young Moncur all afternoon with advice and encouragement.

Heckingbottom 6
Good all round display.

Daley 7
A lot better looked Sharpe unlucky not to score.

Johnson 6
Eddie gets through a lot of work.

Bullock 6
Another good performance from Bully.

Colbeck 8
Keep this sort of performance up and i might start singing his praises.Great

Thorne 7
Thorne is a class act,great finish.

Topp 6
Closed down quickly by Notts players.

Rhodes 8
Superb display capped performance with a great goal.

Nix N/A
Replaced Daley 90 minutes