By Adam Raj

This must have been an awkward afternoon for Ryan Sparks. His public number one choice of manager vs his private number one choice. After a fantastic run of form, publicly backed number one choice Graham Alexander is now in a sticky patch. Today’s result leaves City winless in their last five league games with some distinctly poor performances for good measure. Tuesday’s EFL trophy victory at Derby County provided some signs of life with a more refined and encouraging display, but as far as league form goes, it was more of the same.

Ash Taylor, Sam Stubbs, Harry Chapman and Bobby Pointon were all rewarded with starts following their performances midweek. I was especially pleased to see Chapman and Pointon – two players with genuine creativity and the ability to create something out of nothing. It all pointed to more of a footballing approach from Alexander as we saw at Derby as opposed to the long ball style prominent in recent league fixtures.

And for some of the first half, that’s what we got. City did try to get the ball down more often but nothing seemed to flow as smoothly as it did as times at Pride Park. It felt like the calmness and technical ability of Kevin McDonald was missing.

Still, City certainly had the better of the opening contest, despite Alexander’s post match comments that City had been “first class” in the first period being a slight exaggeration. The Bantams had the territorial advantage over their hosts and worked some promising positions, but were continuously let down by poor decision making or execution. Far too often, crosses from wide positions failed to beat the first man or in some cases went flying into the stands. As a result, Colchester keeper Owen Goodman was virtually unworked.

The busiest he ever got in that first half was picking the ball out of the back of his net. Taylor’s diagonal found Andy Cook in the box, his knockdown to Pointon saw the ball bobble around before the City number nine hit a sweet half volley into the far bottom corner to give the Bantams a 35th minute lead. 

City did create some minor penalty box scrambles but never anything clear cut to add to their lead. A second goal, as it so often is, would have been crucial this afternoon. Colchester were bad, really bad in that first half. Arguably the worst side I’ve seen this season but City’s lack of quality and finesse in the final third meant they never looked like extending their lead.

Cue the second half.

City started to retreat, not massively, but ten yards deeper and failing to engage the press as highly as they did in the first half. Alexander, in his post match comments, identified this and didn’t have any answers as to why it’d happened. But ultimately, it cost them.

Colchester were happy to play out from the back and City were content with watching them do it so long as they blocked the passing lanes into midfield. The problem is, the longer these passages of play went on, the more confidence the home side gained. They would work the ball from right to left along their back line and vice versa, waiting for City’s structure to crack. And with no pressure on the ball, that is always likely to happen.

Tom Dallison found himself with time and space to advance over halfway before playing a simple ball over the top of the City defensive line. Taylor had not tracked runner Tom Hopper and could not recover to prevent the United striker striking past debutant Sam Walker. Whilst this was not good defending by Taylor, the strike from Hopper was a bobbly effort from a tight angle which doesn’t reflect well on Walker.

City’s new goalkeeper has big boots to fill and the club will be hoping, more than anyone, that this one works out. The signing of Charlton’s second choice keeper on a free transfer to replace arguably the best keeper at this level was met with understandable scepticism and at a time where supporter trust is at an all time low, the club needs this to work.

Just as they did in the first half, City had some moments where the ball was scrambling and bouncing around in the United box, but once again Goodman remained untested. In fact, City had only three efforts on target this afternoon. One being Cook’s goal and the other two were virtual passbacks from Liam Ridehalgh and Chapman. It’s nowhere near good enough and you could hear Alexander’s despair when talking about his side not being clinical in the final third in his post match comments.

Whilst he has been a firm defender of his side’s capabilities, it feels like today was the point Alexander finally realised that the quality in this squad is just not there. Whether he decides to, or is allowed to, address this in the transfer window remains to be seen.

But Alexander is not blameless. Following the equaliser, his response was to substitute Chapman and Pointon for Clarke Oduor and Vadaine Oliver. And with that, you could sense the deflation in the away end. Whilst Chapman and Pointon had not been as influential as they were on Tuesday, they were still the only two players that ever looked like making something happen.

The decision to partner Oliver and Cook again did not work. It felt very much as if the plan from there on in was to stick two big lads up top, boot the ball long and hope for the best. The quality on show up to that point was poor but this change managed to deteriorate it even further.

All square it ended and probably about fair. City may have had the territorial advantage but didn’t create anywhere near enough chances, or clear cut chances, to justify winning the game.

As the players made their way over to applaud the fans, one supporter voiced his disgust at Bradford City being convincingly held to a draw at third bottom of the football league. And whilst I agree with his point, I also have a realisation of where we are which doesn’t lead me to being surprised or even disappointed at these results and performances anymore.

We are a bottom half League Two side and Taylor’s post match comments that we “aren’t far off” couldn’t be further from reality. It is admirable that the players still believe, but I’d be amazed if our league position drastically changed between now and May.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2023/24, BCAFC, Colchester United, League Two