| Bradford City 0 |
| Middlesbrough 2 |
| Lath 25, Rogers 54 |
By Jason McKeown
At times, the gulf in quality between the two sides was so vast that it was difficult to muster any emotion stronger than quiet resignation. Bradford City gave it a go but were not great here. They barely laid a glove on their higher league opponents. Held back – in the first half especially – by their own tepidness. But it almost didn’t matter.
Middlesbrough were on a different level. And for the most part, put on a display of such skill and confident assurance that no League Two side could hope to live with them. In every part of the pitch, they were too strong. Whatever different way the Bantams might have played this, the high performance levels of the visitors meant they were always going to lose. It was ultimately a game between clubs two divisions apart, which played out in the most logical of ways.
But still, as futile as it looked for City, it can be hard to accept this sort of by-the-book turn of events around these parts. 11 years on from League Cup history makers and all that – not to mention the FA Cup exploits of 2015. In many ways, we are a fanbase haunted by a lost love that seems destined to forever ruin nights like this. We know how it can be different – so, so different. And that can make watching League Two players perform like the mere mortals they are seem a little underwhelming.
Of course we can’t expect miracles. But we do know they are possible.
Instead of romance, cold reality hit hard quickly here. It was great to be under the lights for a Valley Parade underdog cup tie, and we could even dig out some old classics like the “It’s only a cup” chant. But it was immediately evident that Middlesbrough were not here to play the fall guys. They had 77.5% of the ball in the opening 10 minutes alone. By minute 20, Boro had completed a whopping 184 passes (an average of one pass every 6.5 seconds at that point) to City’s 69. They cut City open as a matter of routine. It became a matter of when, not if, they would score.
That the opening goal resulted from a mistake by Harry Lewis – who allowed a low Emmanuel Latte Lath shot to squirm under his body – left City with a nagging sense the damage was self-inflicted. But on the balance of play, it was a goal Middlesbrough completely deserved. And in some ways, City’s biggest achievement in a one-sided opening 45 minutes was the fact they made it to half time still in the game.
It was stark. Middlesbrough didn’t just play it out from the back with ease. Their two centre backs – Dael Fry and Paddy McNair – would routinely stop with the ball on the half way line. Literally stop and stand there. They’d wait and wait for the right moment to play a pass. An amazing level of self-assurance and composure that accentuated the difference in quality between the two sides.
And as they stood there, the hesitancy and passiveness within the Bradford City players stood out painfully. With Andy Cook back – but not exactly looking fully fit – they just couldn’t press. City players stood around unsure of what to do, and eventually someone would move away from maintaining their position, and Boro had the opening they were waiting for.
If you don’t press as a team, you need to stand still and hold your shape. City players lacked the conviction and confidence to do the latter. Eventually, one player would break rank. Thinking – not unreasonably – that by closing down a Boro defender or midfielder in possession, they were doing their job. But the space they left behind them was quickly seized upon by Boro. The visitors were patient in waiting for City to lose their shape, and then they pounced. As Mark Hughes summarised after, “They were very comfortable on the ball and just waited for us to over-commit and then looked to pop it around us.”
The opening goal was a good example of this. It wasn’t just that Lewis displayed some slippery fingers. Hayden Hackney had the ball inside Middlesbrough’s own half. He waited for someone to close him down, and Jamie Walker took the bait. The 21-year-old beat Walker for skill and was away, team mates made intelligent runs to stretch City, and Matty Platt lost Lath for a split second, enabling the Middlesbrough striker to run clear, receive Hackney’s pass and finish.
It didn’t help City that they were so short in the wide areas. Chisom Afoka needed to be so much better out of possession. He failed to track back often enough to support Liam Ridehalgh, who was routinely doubled up on. The 18-year-old Villa loanee also also needed to better keep his position when Middlesbrough were keeping the ball in their own half. He didn’t offer that discipline. And couldn’t make any impression going forwards.
It’s not fair to single any City player out when the whole team were so outclassed, but unfortunately Afoka was the weak link in the first half that the visitors exploited. Platt too was caught too high up the pitch on occasions, leaving gaps behind that Middlesbrough passed their way through.
Hughes kept faith with the 4-2-3-1, despite picking a team that hinted a return to three at the back. With Kevin McDonald correctly rested for Saturday, Daniel Oyegoke was brought into the centre of midfield to play alongside Alex Gilliead. It was a damning moment for Richie Smallwood – dropped on Saturday, he was overlooked here when he was the most obvious choice to fill in for McDonald. We are perhaps witnessing the beginning of the end for Smallwood. For his part, Oyegoke had a decent game, with no starting City player bettering his 89% pass success.
On the rare occasions City did get forward, they were caught in two minds. Brad Halliday got up and down especially well, and showed some promise linking up with Clarke Oduor, but neither showed enough urgency in sending over crosses, causing attacks to peter out. And in the few instances they did cross, there just weren’t enough City players in the box.
The second half initially brought promise for City. Hughes withdrew Afoka for the rested Rayhaan Tulloch, and the on-loan West Brom forward made a striking impression. Finally, City had a player prepared to take on opponents and stretch the game. In the opening stages of the second half, Tulloch helped City win free kicks in the final third and flashed a decent effort just wide of goal. His ability to bring the ball forward and make it stick enabled the whole team to edge forwards and press their opponents.
Alas, it was a short-lived window of opportunity. In the 54th minute, Riley McGree played a low ball across the box and Morgan Rogers made it 2-0. More not so fantastic defending, and again not brilliant from Lewis. City’s stopper is not having a bad season by any means, but is struggling to reach the high levels he achieved last season. The bar is really high with Lewis, whose exceptional 2022/23 campaign attracted higher league interest. Right now, he’s playing reasonably well – he did make several good saves here – when we know his arc is slightly higher. It follows on from a slight dip at the end of the last campaign.
2-0 put Middlesbrough in a commanding position. City deserve credit for not giving up. Heads did not drop. They began to have more shots on goal. Press more effectively. This was not a bad display by any means – they were simply up against a superior team. Alex Pattison made a welcome return to action from the bench after a month out injured and saw a shot at goal well saved by Tom Glover. Alex Wilson also came on and looks fun. The possibility of City pulling a goal back to make it interesting was far from remote.
But ultimately, the damage was done.
It all resulted in an evening of high expectations turning slightly flat. The night just didn’t sparkle like you hoped it might. The announcement that the crowd was just over 15,000 – when it was a fiver a ticket – summed up the sense of disappointment. The club had done all it could to attract a large crowd and set up a big occasion, but it didn’t deliver on the field and in the stands. The stark truth is that there was only around 10,000 City fans in the ground. Not fantastic.
It was a superb atmosphere for the most part. But my first personal go at trying out the atmosphere section of the North West corner felt a little disappointing when the evening ended with anti-Stefan Rupp chanting. Was this really the time to turn on the owner? And is targeting the City chairman reflective of the mood of the wider Valley Parade crowd? It all came at a point when faint hope of a comeback remained, and the North West corner could have acted as the conductor to get the three home stands chanting loudly and urge on the team for one last push. Instead, these chants seemed to contribute to the overall atmosphere fizzling out. No one outside the North West corner was joining in.
Depressingly, I guess I’m getting old – but this didn’t feel like the part of Valley Parade for me.
The fact that anti-owner chants faintly filled the air in the closing stages sharply brings back the cliff edge feel of things right now. City had a superb win at Newport County on Saturday – one to revive confidence and belief in the direction of the club this season, and the management of Hughes – but this game was a reminder that the mood remains very much in the balance.
As we go back to concentrating on the league, a big eight days lie ahead, with two intriguing home games either side of a Tuesday night trip to struggling Tranmere. City quickly need to shake off any sense of disappointment felt here, and repeat the level of performance they mustered at Rodney Parade.
Ultimately it is only a cup. And what really matters right now is that Bradford City start to mount a convincing push for promotion.
Categories: Match Reviews
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I enjoyed the quality of Boro’s play, well worth the fiver to attend. As you say we cant be too critical on the city team, it just wasn’t a fair contest.
It did make we wonder how much would the difference in class narrow if we did make it to the Championship. Or would it be akin to how Luton/Burnley are faring in the Premiership. Getting battered each week isn’t exactly fun to watch. So, is the League 1 are optimal league now.
Naturally, we go to the game in the hope that this is going to be one of those great VP Cup nights but we have to be realistic about how often that happens. City fans have in fact been spoiled in that regard. 2012, 2015, 1988/9, dare I say it 1976!
I have to say though that I was buoyed by last night’s performance. They are levels above us and showed it, but we played well as a team and individually.
Like you say, we chased shadows for much of the first half. When we pressed they just sliced through us. They were and are 2 classes above us. Perhaps if Tulloch had started instead of Afoka, but I doubt it. When we got into the game and had our best spells, they were 2 up already and it’s probably because they were 2 up. At 0 0 we couldn’t get near them.
I was astounded to hear the negativity after the game. Boro weren’t there for the taking, we wouldn’t have won that game if we’d taken our chances, Boro aren’t relegation fodder!
The NWC dissent wasn’t audible. I’m in the main stand, reasonably close and didn’t hear it. I only heard general positivity. Because the vast vast majority are realistic.
I switched on the post match radio and was astonished at the stuff I heard. I should have known what to expect online but it caught me off guard last night.
I think Jamie Raynor is for the most part great at what he does, but he’s in danger of thinking he’s a football expert. No doubt that comes from sitting next to and being dragged down by the quite awful Andy Kiwomya, who just talks utter drivel. I only caught the end of it so I apologise if I got the wrong end of it but saying City fans expect Cup wins and this wouldn’t have happened in 2012 or when he played against Everton. The latter game we were a championship side with Chris Waddle in it! The 2012 side would not have won that game last night – why, because Boro were on it from the off and took their chances. It’s astonishing watching back the 2012 exploits how many open goals were missed. Wigan – incredible misses, Villa should have been 3 up inside 15mins, as Windass famously said “I’d have had a hattrick by now”. I’m not saying we were lucky because in sport you do make your own luck to some extent, but for that cup win to happen you need the superior side to have an off day. Take Leeds at Salford – Leeds battered them for the most part. When it doesn’t you get Swansea.
I’m positive because we look like we have a squad now capable. I was resigned to it 2 weeks ago but now we have competition in virtually all positions – Wilson was excellent, Pattison a bonus being back. Halliday was a revelation.
Yes, we need to go and win on Saturday now, but I watched at Newport and last night and we look to be heading in the right direction.
The big takeaway for me was Smallwood
Not even used in 5 substitutions
Surely he is done now?
I certainly hope so
Hopefully 🤞
No complaints from me regarding the result City were outclassed all over the pitch from the 1st minute, if it was a boxing match I think the referee would have stopped it. Man for man they looked better than us. You could tell their extra quality and that their players were from an higher division, this is what as frustrated me about Smallwood, because of the level he’s played at you would expect to look to look at a level above most players in our division, but you never see that, if you didn’t know about his past you probably wouldn’t guess that he had played at a higher level.
The attendance was poor to say how cheap the tickets were but to be honest if we had announced the proper attendance for the last few home games and not automatically included season ticket holders then personally I think they were much much lower than what was announced. I do think people are not enjoying the football and voting with their feet a bit.
I didn’t hear the anti owner chants personally but I can understand people’s frustrations. My view is that he is a safe pair of hands but can’t see us progressing much because he just isn’t interested in football enough to be ambitious. If we were a racing car he would have probably built us into one of the best cars in the races because that’s his passion so he would be willing to lose a bit to succeed. It’s pointless singing anti rupp chants when people are hardly queuing around the corner to buy us though, we could have much worse owners like them clowns running Crawley. Now if people were publicly coming out and saying they want to buy the club but Rupp was being too unrealistic with the price Because we don’t own the ground or training ground then I would hope the chants would grow louder every game because if he hadn’t got that passion and ambition for the club and someone comes along who as he should sell at a realistic price.
No complaints about the result and credit to Middlesbrough. Before getting too despondent it’s worth considering that the Boro player payroll will be a lot bigger than that of BCAFC or any other fourth tier club and last night was as much a lesson in football economics and the inequality with the higher divisions.
Despite the result I thought that there were plenty of positives, not least the fact that the team played with urgency from the kick-off and didn’t let heads drop even though Boro took control of the game. Notwithstanding that our players were not of the same quality (with the obvious exception of their keeper who unfortunately escaped being tested) and they were under constant pressure, I thought that the team seemed more comfortable playing Boro than the regular L2 hoofball visitors at VP which says a lot about the background of Mark Hughes. He will not have been blind to the gulf in quality on the pitch but credit to the team that the score was held at 0-2 and that BCAFC did not resort to physical tactics in frustration.
I am not convinced that Andy Cook was fit last night and I hope that his recovery is not impacted by being rushed back into the side.
Highly amusing to hear both sides of the crowds join in the singing about that club in Beeston. I didn’t hear the anti-Rupp chanting in the NW Corner although I was surprised by some of the booing from the Kop at half-time. Sadly I think it’s become instinctive, like some sort of involuntary response. The sense of entitlement is frankly an embarrassment and serves only to demotivate the team.
The home crowd should be a wake up call to the club ,10 thousand when it was 5 pounds,should have been a full house.the words can’t be bothered ,said it all ,that’s down to negative tactics ,and that’s what came across from the manager after the match .The way to beat better teams is get in there face ,let them know who we are ,and have a go with your best team And not put the white flag up before we kick a ball,we where giving premiership sides a game not long ago ,if you lose you lose but have a go.
I think “the way to beat better teams” is to approach the game the “Parky way” (or Sun Tzu if you like).
Set up a disciplined 2 lines of defence against teams that are clearly going to be of superior quality to yourselves. DO NOT attempt to “break rank” and close them down -leaving holes in your defensive wall. Let them play passes across the front of you, let them stand on the halfway line with the ball. Let them do all the things that don’t create a danger.
The aim should be to minimise the chances your opposition has to score and to frustrate them into rushing and failing to take the opportunities that they WILL inevitably create.
Stay patient and defensive minded -like an outclassed boxer waiting for the opportunity of landing a knockout punch- and await the 1 or 2 opportunities that will likely come your way from a corner or free-kick during the 90 minutes.
To try and take on a superior opponent at the level of ability they have -but you don’t- and in the way they have chose to “fight” would be naive in the extreme.
“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy’s useful actions but allow his useless actions” -Miyomoto Mushashi (A Book of Five Rings).
I’m not sure that it ‘should have been a full house’ just because tickets were £5.00. Nor is it necessarily down to a perception of negative tactics, especially after the Newport match just a few days before.
Let’s not forget that it was the Third Round of the League Cup against a club which hardly fires the imagination – Middlesbrough are not Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City.
In the current climate people would probably find that there are better things to spend that fiver on (or save it for a hoped-for attractive draw in the next round).
The anti Rupp chanting in the NWC is nothing new, it broke out several times last season. However, it is not all of the NWC participating, there is obviously a small group of like minded individuals hoping to get everyone else to join in. The chanting usually results in bemused looks from those in the Kop within earshot. Ironic really that they continue to wave the flags in the traditional German style! Be careful what you wish for, we are a stable club with a future being managed sustainably. For a warning, read about what’s happening at Scunthorpe!
Success at any price is not worth the risks. As for the attendance last night, for a League 2 club to attract a crowd of 10,000 home fans even at a fiver a ticket is admirable. The early rounds of this competition traditionally attract much lower than usual attendances, and opponents from the bottom of the Championship are not a big draw.
Just to note, declared attendances at all ticketed events are based on the number of tickets sold, not bums on seats, simply because you cannot sell a ticket twice. It applies worldwide, throughout sport, theatre, concerts, etc. There are Premier League grounds where you cannot buy a ticket as they are sold out through season ticket sales, yet there may be a thousands of empty seats. People do not attend games or events even though they have a ticket for a multitude of reasons. If the product is poor that may be a reason for non-attendance. On the other hand, City’s season tickets are so cheap that people can afford to buy them and pick and choose which games they attend. I make a 160 mile round trip to watch City, and did so last night. Disappointing result, but agree with others that Boro were a joy to watch. During Parky’s tenure, there was many a game I sat through and wondered if it was really worth it, not quite got to that stage yet this season, however no matter what, I will attend unless circumstances prevent it. As for giving Premiership teams a game not so long ago, I attended all of those games and frankly we used up a decades worth of luck in one cup run! In particular how Arsenal and Villa did not beat us I will ever know. Both should have buried us with the chances they spurned, but that’s football. Looking forward to Saturday and a different performance and outcome.
Fortune favours the brave, you make your own luck, you wont get any where by playing safe .
and we can’t even play safe….