The Bald One

A superb second half show by The Bantams at the Darlington Arena yesterday moved Bradford City mathematically within striking distance of the play off positions.

Bradford City were under a fair amount of pressure in the opening exchanges but the City rearguard were a match for anything the Darlington forwards could muster on a quagmire of a pitch.

Joachim and Nelthorpe were a constant threat and it was Joachim who created the opening goal of the game, his cross from the left totally bypassed the City defence and struck Barry Conlon on his upper body.

Referee Drysdale pointed to the spot under protest from several Bradford players noteably Conlon who showed the referee the ball mark on his shirt but his appeal fell on deaf ears and up stepped Clarke Keltie to thump the ball past Loach in the City goal.

Darlington 1 Bradford City 0

The poor state of the pitch was not helping either side, too many times the ball was over hit or just simply stopped dead in the mud.

Referee Darren Drysdale blew his whistle every time there was a hint of a tackle, perhaps he forgot to allow for the condition of the playing surface, instead choosing to stop the game much to the crowds disgust.

Half Time:
Darlington 1 Bradford City 0

Bradford were still very much in the game,but few of the travelling Bradfordians in the crowd expected the second half onslaught by the men in Claret and Amber.

Barry Conlon, the butt of abuse in recent weeks, seemed to relish the task ahead as even the Darlington fans jeered his every move but this was to be Conlon’s Day and for once, Barry silenced his critics in formidable fashion.

Conlon’s second half performance proved to be the catalyst for a remarkable City comeback, bagging one goal himself and creating two for Penford and Colbeck respectively.

Conlon was in the thick of the action from the off and after 50 minutes his neat control and vision played in Thorne whose low cross found Penford in the box. Penford calmly put the ball into the net for City’s equaliser and his first professional strike.

Darlington 1 Bradford City 1

Bradford defender Paul Heckingbottom had found the conditions heavy going but on a rare raid forward his speculative cross found the head of Barry Conlon who rose above the static Darlington defence to send a looping header into the net.

Darlington 1 Bradford City 2

City were well on top but when Tom Penford sliced his clearance onto the Bradford crossbar with Scott Loach stranded the City faithful just knew this was going to be their day.

The killer punch arrived with Conlon again the provider. A long punt from the City defence was controlled by Barry who laid the ball into Joe Colbecks path. Colbeck finished superbly from 12 yards out to send the large Away following behind the goal into raptures.

Darlington 1 Bradford 3

Colbeck had been a constant threat all afternoon but with 7 minutes remaining Darlington player Richie Foran was sent off for a crude lunge on Colbeck. Colbeck was substituted in the closing minutes and left the field to warm applause from both sets of fans.

Final Score:
Darlington 1 Bradford City 3

Next Game – Tuesday April 1st Kick Off 7-45 Rochdale Away.

Player Ratings

Loach 6
Quiet afternoon in the mud.

Williams 5
Steady performance.

Heckingbottom 5
Struggled in conditions.

Wetherall 6
Made a few good defensive clearances when needed.

Bower 6
Anything Wethers missed Bower covered.

Johnson 5
Poor first half. Played better in second.

Nix 6
Looked lively.

Penford 7
Another sound display.

Colbeck 8
Joe has hit a rich vein of form of late and was full of running.

Thorne 7
Teamed up well again with Barry.

Conlon 9
The Irishman had his best game to date in a City shirt.

Starosta N/A
Replaced Colbeck 86 minutes.

Medley N/A