Written by Jason McKeown (images by John Dewhirst)

In the end Bradford City’s toughest opponents on the night were not a dishevelled Tranmere Rovers side, but the Valley Parade public itself. The Bantams edged their way to an important victory that means the gap to the automatic promotion places seems bridgeable once more. Yet the players succeeded under the pressure of a home faithful unconvinced by their methods, and right on the edge of open revolt.

It was a strange game, best summarised by the bizarre way in which the Tranmere Rovers goalkeeper, Mateusz Hewelt, somehow allowed a tame Andy Cook header to float over his head and into the net in the 74th minute, to clinch the three points. City ultimately won with ease, but yet it felt like they had made harder work of it than needed to be case. And that contributed to the uneasy atmosphere.

There is a clear disparity between the way the team is told to play and what many supporters want to see. It’s already led to some flash points over recent weeks, but here it threatened to spill over and become a real problem.

In the lead up to both Jamie Walker and Cook’s goals, the mood was especially tense. Anger was rising over City’s habit of passing the ball around too often in their own half. Of players turning backwards and looking to play it to a team-mate behind them, instead of aiming to go forward. It’s a patient approach, increasingly met with impatience. The tension released in a timely fashion when Walker and Cook struck. But the fact it’s bubbling so close to the surface is a concern.

You can see the argument from both sides. It’s fair to say that Mark Hughes wants his team to take and retain a high degree of control in matches. To dominate the ball, and thereby keep your opponent at something of an arm’s length. After the turgid, direct style of Derek Adams and Gary Bowyer in recent years, Hughes’ principles of playing attractive football are laudable. And when City get it right – as they showed in flashes here – they are very good to watch.

But that desire to have so much control does come with a level of cautiousness that can make for a challenging watch. It can be dull, and frankly for spells in this game it was boring. The play it out from the back style makes City slower, and at times it seems like they’re trying to operate with the handbrake on. Any opponent who packs the midfield and defence – as Tranmere did out of possession – will be able to neuter City and make them look very pedestrian. Tranmere’s only real success of the night were spells where they did just that.

When you have the quality that City possess, you’re always going to produce moments. And not for the first time this season, the moments that City did conjure up here got them over the line. Still, with a bit more tempo, a bit more bravery, and a bit more boldness, this group of players could seemingly be wiping the floor on everyone they come up against. The fact they don’t get to these levels is both a mystery and a frustration.

In games like this, it doesn’t really matter. Tranmere produced arguably the worst visitor performance seen at Valley Parade all season. The fact they had only 38% of the ball, won zero corners, and failed to register a single shot on target told its own story.

Micky Mellon’s only attacking plan, it seemed, was to try and explore the vulnerabilities that City’s diamond formation enforces on its own full backs, with efforts to double up on Brad Halliday and Liam Ridehalgh. And twice in the first half Ethan Bristow got to the byline and delivered brilliant dangerous crosses that left City floundering. They were begging to be tapped home by a Tranmere player, but no one could make contact. This was as good as it got from a very limited Rovers side.

That gave City the initiative that for long spells in the first half especially they seemed to be on the edge of taking, but they kept falling short of grasping the mantle. The diamond set-up is really suited for Adam Clayton in bringing the ball forward to start attacks, but with Alex Gilliead not reaching his recent heights and Richie Smallwood’s confidence still looking a little suspect, City struggled to play through a more rigid Tranmere 4-4-2.

That’s why, as the minutes ticked by and with City barely registering a shot, the dissent in the stands grew. Passes between Harry Lewis, Matty Platt, Sam Stubbs, Ridehalgh and Halliday attracted more ire. The groans became louder.

It’s tough on these players, who are only doing what their manager asks. And on occasions they did go long, Tranmere quickly won back possession. The biggest failing is ultimately the lack of movement ahead. When Platt and co have the ball and look up the pitch, all they can see are static City midfielders and forwards, closely marked and looking reluctant to make any runs that could present a genuine option. So they do turn left or right and play the ball along. The anger rises in the stands, but ahead of them the passing options remain limited.

This is the area where City must improve.

Walker (plus Clayton) was the main exception to this. The Scot is back up and running now, and showed much greater energy and purpose. At times he even came back to the City penalty area to show for a pass, as he was so keen to be involved. Hughes needs more players to follow Walker’s lead. To be more courageous.

It was fitting that Walker opened the scoring and the goal itself underlined the rewards that are there when City do step up the tempo. The ball was played around the edge of the Tranmere box and Ridehalgh slipped it inside to Smallwood. The City captain produced a superb return pass that sent Ridehalgh away with a chance to cross, and the left back’s ball was met by Walker, who cut inside. His low shot deflected past Hewelt for 1-0. In an instant, rising anger in the crowd gave way to a booming chant of Mark Hughes’ Bradford Army. Another example of how the mood was on a knife-edge.

The goal, just before half time, set City up nicely and allowed them to shake off the disappointment of losing Matty Derbyshire to injury. Walker too seemed to be struggling after enduring some poor Tranmere challenges, but he was able to carry on in the second half and continued to set a great example.

Initially City began the second half better, strongly suggesting Hughes had spent the interval telling them to up the tempo. And with Tranmere offering no threat, City just needed to kill the game off.

Strangely though, they began to fall apart. Individual mistakes racked up, as a real level of sloppiness seemed to engulf every single City player. It gave Tranmere hope, and it once again saw the atmosphere grow darker. For a good 10 minutes it seemed, City just couldn’t get any decision right. It was as though every home player had had their shoelaces tied together. They were lucky to be doing this against such hapless opponents. But it’s not the first time they’ve fallen away mid-game. And the anger of the crowd was laced with the fear of another sting in the tail.

Then, out of nothing, City were 2-0 ahead and cruising. They had won a corner that Clayton took, and his effort was dreadful and could be easily cleared. As the disdain reigned down from the Kop, the Tranmere Rovers defender, with more time than he realised, strangely booted the ball behind for another corner.

This time Clayton’s delivery was on the money, and Cook’s slow header somehow ended up crossing the line despite Hewselt and a Rovers defender having ample chance to prevent it going past them. Mellon admitted after the game that he wanted to strangle his goalkeeper. Cook now has 19 goals overall – on Saturday he has the chance to become the first City player since Nahki Wells to net 20 goals in a season.

Again, City had pulled it out of the bag just when fans were really getting on their backs, and they saw out the closing stages with some ease. It was not a performance that will live long in the memory – 7s and 6s out of 10 all round – but they’ve followed up Saturday’s impressive win over Stevenage with another three points. And that’s the most important factor.

This was a reminder that the foundations remain shaky on City’s promotion push. They are on the cusp of the play off spots and yet continue to look one or two bad results away from implosion. Hughes will like the character his players showed in not wilting under the pressure, but he will want them to show more authority and style. He needs the Bradford public on side for the tougher battles that are to come, and it must slightly concern him that the belief fans have in the team’s approach remains shaky.

When you consider that Hughes has the likes of Scott Banks, Dion Pereira, Timi Odusina, Dara Costelleo and Luke Hendrie not even in the matchday squad – and is operating without the injured Romoney Crichlow, Tolaji Bola and Emmanuel Osadebe – he really does have a strong hand. This is a good group of players. Our best, without question, since relegation to League Two four years ago.

It would just be nice to see the strength within this Bradford City squad start to be reflected better by more convincing performances on the pitch.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2022/23, BCAFC, League Two, Tranmere Rovers