Collins under pressure as Bantams lose at home

Bradford City lost to Wycombe Wanderers this weekend to heap pressure on Michael Collins.

On the face of it, Bradford are not in a bad position. They’re 13th with six points from five games, two wins and three defeats. That doesn’t mask that the home fans booed their team off as Gareth Ainsworth collected his first win of the season in League One.

“I’m not going to make any excuses,” Collins to the Telegraph and Argus. “That wasn’t good enough on far too many levels and it will be quickly addressed. There was a real lack of energy in the play, it was very slow and laboured. We have to question why that was the case.”

Veteran Craig Mackail-Smith gave the Chairboys the lead, with Bryn Morris adding a second. Bradford got a late consolation, but that wasn’t enough to save them from their second home defeat of the season.

Collins was impressed with youngster Jordan Gibson after the teenager came off the bench to turn in an energetic display. “It shouldn’t take a 19-year-old footballer, making his fourth competitive appearance, to come on and show everybody else exactly what you should be doing.”

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The jury is still out on Collins, he’s a young coach with little managerial experience and to a degree, it showed. There was a naivety to their play, something that a wily old campaigner like Ainsworth knew exactly how to exploit.

The Chairboys manage a game well and they solid and compact, which Bradford simply weren’t prepared for. The Bantams have enough quality to ensure a midtable battle this season, but many more displays like that a he might find the pressure mounting.