Speaking to The Telegraph and Argus after last night’s defeat to Crewe at Gresty Road, Bradford City Manager Mark Hughes criticised the pitch, the style of play, and the players’ confidence. Hughes’ frustration was palpable after the loss, where just one point would have guaranteed the Bantams a playoff spot, and a win would have kept them in contention for automatic promotion.
The stakes were high last night, but an early lead from Crewe courtesy of Daniel Agyei denied the Bantams an easy run into the weekend. Agyei then scored a second to take the Railwaymen 2-0 up going into the break. Bradford came out fighting after half time, with Andy Cook and Jamie Walker bringing them level, with both goals within eight minutes. Time added on top of that from Agyei’s injury by an incident involving a smoke bomb on the pitch thrown by Bradford fans meant that there was 12 minutes of additional time, which gave way for a 90+11′ penalty awarded to Crewe, which was converted by Chris Long to take the final score to 3-2.
How did Hughes react?
After being provoked on the pitch by Chris Long who Hughes later put in his place by stating he didn’t know who he was, Hughes was never going to be a great mood, although he should certainly be encouraged by the team’s come back from 2-0 down. Stoppage goals are the story of Bradford’s last three games though – both for, and against – the Bantams scored in the dying minutes of injury time on Saturday to beat Northampton. Hughes congratulated his team on the resilience to come from two goals behind, but added:
“But then the game deteriorated and became end to end with lots of transitions and changes of possession…It became a game that I didn’t want us to be involved in. I’d rather see us getting the ball down and pass and move…
With ballplay moving to end-to-end, the Bantams struggled to control the game:
“But it was difficult because the pitch was not the best. It didn’t help our confidence in terms of getting the ball down and playing. It ended up playing the type of football they wanted to play more than we did.”
So what now for the Bantams?
Bradford go into their final game of the season at home to champions Leyton Orient on Monday. They’re currently sitting in 7th position on 75 points along with Carlisle and Salford. One point will guarantee them a play-off position, and depending on the outcome of Mansfield’s game against Colchester, they may scrape a playoff position without gaining any more points this season. However, a 1-0 loss to Orient, and a 2-0 win for Mansfield would mean they’re level on points, and goal difference. In this scenario league positions are determined by goals scored, and Mansfield are comfortably ahead of Bradford.
