By Jason McKeown

This race for promotion is not for the faint of heart. In a dizzying afternoon of twists and turns, Bradford City went from the brink of despair to the edge of glory – and then back to utter agony. They emerge from this 2-2 draw with Gillingham still in the play offs, but clinging on. Whilst their automatic hopes have vastly shrunk.

As the music pauses and we attempt to catch our breath, the bottom line is that City have drawn a must-win game in their top three quest, dropping both two points and a place down the league. They’ve actually edged a point closer to third-place Stevenage – who lost – yet somehow the gap looks further away. And that’s not the only bad news.

The fact that it was Mansfield who defeated Stevenage has implications on City’s play off hopes. Nigel Clough’s side have moved level on points with the Bantams, who only stay ahead of them on goal difference. Salford have gone above City, thanks to another dramatic late win on the road. A top seven finish had looked almost nailed on for City, but they’ve still got work to do – though seven points from their final three matches will be enough to clinch a play off spot.

City will be full of regret here. They endured a wretched first half display that left them fortunate to go in at the break only a goal behind to a Gillingham side with nothing to play for. Not for the first time in recent weeks at Valley Parade, there was a very strong second half response from Mark Hughes’ charges. And the pendulum swung the other way, with two Andy Cook goals putting them 2-1 ahead.

A jaw-dropping eight minutes of injury time were announced, which City couldn’t see out. Oli Hawkins’ 97th minute equaliser will have been cheered just as loudly by his former club Mansfield as it was by 300+ Gills fans.

The visitors deserved something. It’s been well documented that Neil Harris’ side have been transformed since their mid-season takeover and strong January window investment, but they’d still lost their last three on the road and were outplayed by City when they visited Kent just 53 days ago. Free from any lingering concerns about relegation, Gillingham were full of confidence and attacking intensity.

It was as though City weren’t expecting it. Right from kick off they looked off their usual game. Half asleep almost. Only one side initially looked like they were pushing for promotion, and it wasn’t the hosts. Gillingham deployed a high press, and in that first half probably executed it to a level of effectiveness we’ve not seen from a visiting side to Valley Parade all season. Stockport and Gillingham were good at the press, but there was real fierceness about Gillingham’s approach.

Hughes has said in the past he likes opposing teams to play a high press, rather than parking the bus. With City’s principles of playing out from the back, successfully getting around the press gives you more space behind to operate, and likely more joy in attack. City’s last home game, against Sutton, was a great example of this. Sutton deployed the press, weren’t very good at it, and City made hay by playing through them and maximising the gaps.

Gillingham simply weren’t going to make it that easy, and right in the opening minutes they rattled City. Harry Lewis nearly made an awful error just two minutes in, when his attempt to pass around the visitors went badly wrong. Romoney Crichlow and Liam Ridehalgh got caught out in the opening stages too. The worry within the home crowd was evident early doors – their team was not at the races, and was playing a dangerous game.

Sure enough, Gillingham took advantage. Crichlow received the ball just inside his own half. He had options. Not least just launching it forward. He dallied. Gillingham stole in. And former Bantam Timothee Dieng was able to run through and confidently finish past Lewis.

There was just sheer and utter panic at times. Gillingham piling players forward, working the ball into the box, and City failing to clear their lines. They kept giving the ball straight back to a Gillingham player, who put it back in the mix to keep the pressure on. City were hanging on and looking on the ropes. That they didn’t go 2-0 behind was more down to luck than resolve.   

I think it’s fair to say those first 45 minutes were the toughest Lewis has experienced in a City shirt so far. He had gone onto the pitch, as usual, with instructions from his manager to play it out, but his normal composure was lacking and soon the crowd were really on his back. Every time Lewis went for a short pass, the groans and even boos were heavy. It was clearly affecting the City stopper, and left him with a real dilemma of whether to listen to the crowd or stick to the instructions.

At one point Hughes appeared to shout over to Lewis to go longer, which made sense. Gillingham’s high press was seriously compromising City, and they had to be pragmatic. This was not a time to play with principles. It’s situations like this when Hughes will want a bit more in-game intelligence from his players. For them to be more tactically astute to an unfolding situation.

Even with City eventually going more direct, they just could not get going at the other end. Jamie Walker was off the boil, again, and there must surely be serious consideration around dropping him. One excellent game in five is not enough. Cook was starved of service – he touched the ball just 16 times in the first half. Whilst Scott Banks and Brad Halliday linked up well and battled hard, the left side of City’s attack was non-existent.

With Harry Chapman out for the season, Thierry Nevers was given a full debut but struggled badly in the first half. In fact, it probably ranks as one of the worst individual 45-minutes displays by a City player this season.

Nevers likes to cut inside but kept running with the ball into areas where he was crowded out. He tried tricks that didn’t come off. And his unwillingness to run into space for Ridehalgh left the team unbalanced. Gillingham’s 4-4-1-1 made for a packed middle of the park, as George Lapslie rotated between playing in the hole when Gillingham had possession and dropping back into midfield when they didn’t.

City needed to stretch the game in wide areas, and Nevers just wasn’t able to do that. In contrast Banks, who also likes to cut inside, was sticking to the byeline and caused a lot of the problems. By the end of the half, Nevers looked downhearted and was almost hiding from the ball. It was a surprise he was kept on after the break.

Though for the sake of his career, it was good that he did. Hughes must have spent the interval talking with the West Ham loanee, plus Lewis and Crichlow in particular. The team emerged much calmer in the second half. And remembered what has made them successful this season.

Indeed Nevers played a part in City’s equaliser, laying the ball into the path of the onrushing Ridehalgh, who sent over a high cross that Cook nodded home. The Gillingham goalkeeper, Glenn Morris, should have kept the effort out at his near post, but somehow let it creep in. Coming just three minutes after the break, it was the turning point City needed.

From there, they absolutely took control. The issues at the back largely sorted, they pushed forward with more purpose and drive. Nevers looked more effective, although was replaced on the hour (Emmanuel Osadebe, who came on in place, impressed). Banks continued to run at defenders and cause havoc. Cook was more involved.

The true second halves of the show for City were Alex Gilliead and Richie Smallwood. They were fantastic at winning the ball back higher up the park, and showed real urgency in getting the next attacking move going. If in the first half there were moments where it felt like wave after wave of Gillingham attacks, the game had totally changed and it was City having spells of relentlessly knocking on the door. Full credit to Gilliead and Smallwood for taking control of the middle of the park. The pair were making City tick. Kudos also to Halliday who had a very good game.

With time running out, Banks brought down a high ball in the box and was tripped. A clear penalty to City, one that was confidently converted by Cook for goal number 29 (twenty-nine!) of his incredible season. And as the wild celebrations that ensued began to calm, thousands of us in the stands got out our phones to glance at a live league table that now had City two points off the automatic promotion spots. There was suddenly a renewed optimism about promotion following the Swindon setback. We could actually do this!

In the spell between half time and Cook’s penalty, City had 10 shots on goal to Gillingham’s one, and won five corners (Gillingham had one over this period). The Bantams had 62% possession, and produced over three times more accurate passes than their opponents. It was a dominant 40 minutes from City, even though they had spells where they were still a little slow in their quest for the win.

The problem was what happened after Cook’s penalty. Not for the first time at home this season, their game management in defending a lead wasn’t great. Cook’s penalty conversation was City’s last attempt on goal in the contest. In the final 13 minutes of action (including those questionable eight minutes injury time), Gillingham had a whopping 77% possession, won three corners (to City’s zero), and produced five shots on goal.

Two of those efforts were brilliantly thwarted by Lewis – the way he clawed away Tom Nichols’ header was simply breathtaking, as it looked a certain goal. After an afternoon that began in such difficult fashion for Lewis, he was set to end it as a hero. But then with less than 90 seconds to go, Hawkins was able to poke home from a corner and leave City on their knees. There were legitimate claims from the Bantams that Lewis had been impeded as the corner came over – it was a tactic Gillingham deployed on the City stopper all afternoon – and Hughes was yellow carded for his complaints.

But despite the element of hard luck to the way the game ended, City have to take most of the blame for not winning this one. You can’t start games that badly and get it away with it. You can’t retreat so much in the closing stages when you’re winning, inviting so much pressure. City made it an easier game for Gillingham than it should have been.

It’s hard to make a case for City achieving automatic promotion now. They go to Northampton next, with the Cobblers knowing that a victory will earn them promotion. Sixfields will be rocking, and it’s not the sort of fixture you want at this point.

If City lose at Northampton and Stevenage win either Tuesday’s trip to Swindon or Saturday’s home game with Grimsby, top three is mathematically over for the Bantams. And even if City beat Northampton and Stevenage continue to flounder, Stockport and Carlisle are still above the Bantams and next in line to take advantage of any slip ups.

Adding to the pressure for City is the fact they may kick off at Northampton outside the play offs, should Mansfield pick up at least a point in their Tuesday home encounter with Leyton Orient. At this point, the Bantams will have a game in hand against both the Stags and Salford, but it means there’s an awful lot riding on what they do at Northampton and the Wednesday after at Crewe.

The margins are just so thin.

Remaining fixtures (click on table to make it larger)

Over the last five days, City have picked up one point from a possible six, at a stage where every single promotion rival has won at least one of the two games they’ve played. They’ve blinked when others have delivered. And that means they’ve got plenty of work to do over the final three matches.

As supporters, this last week has been utter agony. We bounced out of Spotland last Saturday on such a high, with the stars seemingly aligning for City. But just when you could almost taste promotion success, it’s all gone wrong. Nothing has been decided. Our fate is not yet sealed. But the very real fear right now is that the pain of losing at Swindon, and conceding late on here, is only a warm up act to the true depth of heartbreak that we are about to experience.  

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2022/23, BCAFC, Gillingham, League Two