Graham Alexander was delighted with the display shown by his Bradford City side to ensure a return to winning ways at Valley Parade.
The Bantams were unfazed by the Sky Sports cameras rolling into town and went on to comfortably win 3-1 over Newport County. The ever-threatening Andy Cook opened the scoring on the night but The Exiles pulled level through Huddersfield Town loanee Kyle Hudlin.
It was two local lads who were the difference-makers in City’s favour, With Bobby Pointon coming on to provide an assist to Jamie Walker before sealing the game with five minutes to go, assisted by on-loan Lincoln City man Jay Benn, who also provided for Cook earlier in the game.
The win brought an end to Bradford’s four-game winless run in League Two and propelled them up to ninth position in the table after ten games. Speaking after the match to the Telegraph & Argus, Alexander was pleased with his side, saying: “It was a bit more like us at our best.”
“I thought the first half was exceptional how we played. We probably deserved more than a 1-0 lead but we were happy with that.
“They came back into it and I thought we enabled that a little bit. We were a bit loose in our possession and turned the ball over a few too many times.
“It was a bit of a blow to be 1-1 because we were so dominant in the first half.
“But the reaction of the players was excellent. The subs who came on contributed to that and looked after the ball better and we scored two high-quality goals.
“I’m delighted for the players because it’s been a tough few weeks for us. But they’ve never given in and showed their spirit – and showed their quality.”
City were beaten by Walsall and Harrogate Town and secured draws against AFC Wimbledon and Morecambe in their previous run of games and had started slipping away from the top seven. Whilst it was a brilliant start to the night, the goal from Hudlin would have put some fear into The Bantams faithful of yet another missed opportunity at three points.
Reflecting on how the side reacted following the setback just after the hour mark, former Salford City boss Alexander added: “You’re always going to get a lull in performance or the opposition come back into it.
“You never dominate for 90 minutes but you have to manage those periods without conceding.
“That’s probably been our downfall in the first 20 minutes of games away from home recently. It happened after half-time.
“I don’t think our focus was absolutely spot on but I felt the goal did refocus us and sparked us into the quality we needed.
“We deserved to win the game over the whole piece without a doubt. You don’t always get what you deserve but we made it happen and that’s a great pat on the back for the players.”
Writer’s View
It was a much-needed result for Bradford City amidst murmurings of discontent following the last run of results. City showed domination and determination in their performance and looked much more comfortable compared to recent showings such as the loss away to Harrogate Town. This form now has to be replicated on the road, where they have struggled all season and they have the chance next weekend when they visit Tranmere Rovers. Expectations are always high for a club which is viewed to be too big for the level and they are definitely capable of gaining promotion if they can string a run together akin to the back end of last season which saw them narrowly miss out on the play-offs.
However, they may have suffered a minor blow in the face of their victory, with Neill Byrne taken off the pitch accompanied by a physio. Alexander did reveal that it was for cramp but with the Irish defender only recently returning from injury, it would be worrisome if he was to face another spell on the sidelines. The game against Newport County finally saw City revert to their usual back three, but should Byrne be unavailable for the trip to Prenton Park it is likely to see yet another back four system with Jack Shepherd and Cheick Diabate in the middle.
1st Class Honours in Multimedia Journalism at Salford University. Writing mainly about League Two.
