Second half goals from Callum Cooke and Andy Cook ensured victory for the Bantams away at table-toppers Forest Green. Having lost the previous five games on the bounce, the task of going away to the league leaders might have appeared daunting for City. But, with the new found positivity under Mark Hughes, a determined and an increasingly confident City side were able to nullify their hosts, and be clinical when going forward.
After having much more of the ball in Mark Hughes’ first two games in charge, City found themselves under the cosh early on, and the home side created a good opportunity to open the scoring.
A forward ball was held up well by Jack Aitchison, despite being pressured by two City defenders. Aitchison then managed to pick out an unmarked Nicky Cadden at the far post. After cutting inside to evade the challenge of Luke Hendrie, Cadden could only drag his volley wide of the target.
Ten minutes later, Rovers created another good goalscoring opportunity.
Nicky Cadden played in a deep cross from a corner, which a Forest Green attacker was able to connect with. The ball travelled through a sea of players, and past Alex Bass in City’s goal, before Hendrie was able to clear the ball off the line.
Having failed to take the lead early on, Forest Green allowed City to gradually grow into the game. Just two minutes after half time, City created a chance of their own.
Callum Cooke’s inch-perfect cross-field ball picked out Dion Pereira, who was making his first appearance in a City shirt. Pereira controlled the ball on his chest, before quickly unleashing a half volley on goal. Pereira’s effort had former City loanee Luke McGee beaten, but the ball flew just wide of the post.
Although, immediately after Pereira’s effort, the hosts created another chance of their own.
Aitchison again played a clever ball through to Nicky Cadden, who once more was in acres of space. Cadden took his effort early, but he could only sting the palms of Alex Bass, who comfortably tipped the ball behind for a corner.
Shortly after the hour mark, Levi Sutton was brought on with Jamie Walker, replacing Alex Gilliead and Dion Pereira. In his first involvement since coming on, Sutton played a key role in the opening goal of the afternoon.
Sutton received the ball on the left flank, and played a neat through ball to the overlapping Matty Foulds. The City left back played a cross into the area, and the ball eventually fell to Callum Cooke on the edge of the area. Cooke strook the ball on the volley, and with the aid of a slight deflection, Cooke’s effort found the bottom corner of the net, giving City the lead.
City conceded shortly after taking the lead last weekend against Swindon, and they very nearly made the same mistake again.
Kane Wilson played a fantastic chipped ball into City’s penalty area, which picked out an unmarked Jamille Matt. Luckily for City, the Forest Green skipper could only direct his header straight into the palms of Alex Bass.
Minutes later, however, the task of seeing out the victory got a little easier for Mark Hughes’ men, after Udoka Godwin-Malife received a second yellow card for a challenge on Jamie Walker. The Forest Green defender was rewarded with a long walk to the changing rooms, right in front of the 600 travelling City supporters.
And deep into injury time, Andy Cook sealed the win.
Luke McGee had gone up for a Forest Green corner, vacating his goal. City managed to clear the corner, and Andy Cook sprinted forward to get on the end of the clearance, before striking the ball home into an empty net.
Cook looked exhausted after his long sprint forward, but somehow found the energy to celebrate with the away faithful, alongside all of his team mates. Cook’s goal was the perfect way to round off a determined and resolute City performance, with the Bradford fans hoping this will be the first win of many during Hughes’ tenure.
