Bradford City defender Brad Halliday has called on his team to start grinding out wins after a third successive draw on Saturday against Harrogate Town, via the Telegraph & Argus.
The Bantams went into this season as one of the favourites to gain promotion from League Two after losing out in the play-off semi final last season with a two-legged defeat against Carlisle United. However, with just two wins from their opening eight fixtures, they currently sit in a lowly 17th.
Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Harrogate was met with an angry response from fans, and manager Mark Hughes knows that he has to turn results around quickly in order to maintain support. It’s a view shared by 28-year-old Halliday, who has become an ever-present at the University of Bradford Stadium since his move from Fleetwood Town last summer.
The versatile defender has featured nine times in all competitions for Bradford this season. He started Saturday’s stalemate, saying after the game;
“We know the ability we’ve got in the group and we’re still confident.
“The fans are well within their right to express their opinions. As a team, we’ve got to address that.
“We have dominated possession for long periods and just need to be more clinical in the final third.
“If we create more chances and score more goals, I’m pretty sure the fans will get on our side and push us over the line.
“Once it clicks, hopefully goals will flood in, points will flood in and we’ll start moving up the table.”
Despite the lack of wins, Bradford have only lost twice thus far, although are struggling to find the back of the net. With just six goals in eight games, the loss of striker Andy Cook – who hit 28 goals last season – through injury has proven to be a big one. Halliday states that the onus is on the team to share the load, even upon the 32-year-old’s return;
“It’s a tough spell. We probably relied too much on Andy’s goals last season and we need to spread them around the team now so there’s not so much pressure on him to score.
“That comes with creating chances and we didn’t manage to do that on Saturday.”
Bradford travel to Newport County on Saturday with just a point separating the two teams. League Two remains incredibly tight, with just three points between seventh-placed Crewe Alexandra and 17th-placed Bradford.
Writer’s View
Bradford’s position appears to be a false one at the moment due to how tightly strung League Two is. It’s easy to say that form looks bad after a three-game winless run, although that can be flipped to say that they are unbeaten in four.
Supporters are right to voice their concerns because they were expected to hit the ground running. However, it is a long season and Mark Hughes has all the tools at his disposal to make a surge up the table. Things could look very different by the end of the month with a couple of wins under their belt.
