By Jason McKeown

They could not have come any closer. As Bradford City pounded the Wycombe Wanderers goal relentlessly for 90 minutes, you could almost see the Wembley arch lighting up over Valley Parade, tantalisingly within the club’s grasp. They did everything in a monumental effort to try and reach the Football League Trophy final. Everything, that is, but score.

And that meant the heartbreak of Wycombe substitute Matt Butcher’s 91st-minute winning goal was all the more painful, all the more gut-wrenching. If, as a City fan, you began the night not being overly fussed about reaching Wembley, there’s simply no way you could have watched this game and not ended it sharing in the collective pain. It really did hurt to lose like this. But the disappointment is not the usual anger that many of us have held towards our club in recent months, it’s sincere, raw communal agony that brings us all together in mourning this cup exit.

This was without question City’s best performance of the season. You can probably go a lot further than that, in fact. The best performance since…I really don’t know? A good few years, for me. It’s certainly felt a long time since I’ve watched a Bradford City team so dominant throughout the game. And be so clear and purposeful in their gameplan. They absolutely deserved to win the match. And although, on occasion, the failure to get the all-important goal was self-inflicted, because of some below-par finishing, it would be harsh to be too critical of anyone in claret and amber.

Right from the word go, the Bantams played with authority and energy. The continued deployment of Clarke Oduor and Calum Kavanagh as wide forwards is proving highly effective, with the pair pressing gamely and linking up well with the wing backs. We all had a bit of a chuckle when Kavanagh came in during the window, given the high volume of Stephen Gent signings with Middlesbrough connections that suggested he only knew players with a TS postcode. But here again, the January signing performed in a way that suggests City’s head of recruitment does, in fact, have a good eye for a player.

With Andy Cook suspended, Tyler Smith came in up front and had some fairly big shoes to fill. Smith’s lack of physical presence, compared to Cook, meant City had to keep it on the deck more often than usual. Pass it around patiently for openings. The fact the League Two side registered 60% possession – and had 19 shots to their opponents nine – said much about their more probing approach. At their worst under Graham Alexander, City have looked anything but a footballing side. Tonight they were very pleasing on the eye. All against, we should not forget, a club from a higher division, who picked their strongest available side.

And it led to decent chances too. Smith might have opened the scoring in the opening couple of minutes when he was played through on goal by Kevin McDonald and shot relatively tamely at Wycombe goalkeeper Max Stryjek. Oduor sent a fizzing shot just over. Kavanagh hit another effort just wide of the post. For long spells, City were camped out in Wycombe’s half, the visitors struggling to get going.

There was so much to admire about City’s focus and intensity. They lacked quality at times for sure, with Brad Halliday and McDonald sometimes guilty of failing to make brilliant use of the ball in good positions. But it was no lack of effort. City were brave and confident. Centre backs moving up the pitch to support attacks. Just like against MK Dons a week ago, City really do look a better side when the opposition come to Valley Parade with greater ambition to attack, and there is space and turnovers to exploit.

The worry was that having been so on top, but with no goal to show for it, City would be punished by Wycombe getting going after half time and taking charge. Fears that were added to when Ciaran Kelly went off injured just moments after the restart. But attacking the Kop in the second half, there wasn’t any let up – in fact City got even better.

A wayward looking pass by Liam Ridehalgh – who came on for Kelly – bounced oddly on the muddy surface and suddenly sat up well for Kavanagh, who drove inside, and eventually the ball landed at the feet of Smith, who was denied from close range by Stryjek. From the resultant corner, there was a scramble that saw Sam Stubbs have a header blocked, the attack ending with Alex Gilliead firing just over.

A few moments later more good football presented McDonald with a chance, and his shot edged narrowly wide. Kavanagh forced the best save of the lot out of Stryjek with a powerful drive from the edge of box. Oduor – who at times was leading defenders a merry dance with his range of skill and tricks – hit an effort just wide from distance. Smith shot straight at Stryjek after good play from Halliday, and the Polish goalkeeper made another superb save to keep out a Kavanagh header.

Valley Parade was thundering to a superb atmosphere. The decision to open the Bradford End to home fans was inspired, and meant that three sides of the ground made a racket that belied the fact less than 7,000 were present. The team were suitably inspired by the noise, and in return offered up plenty of reasons for fans to keep up the volume.

City’s press was so impressive. They just didn’t let Wycombe have a moment’s peace on the ball. Every City player joined in with harassing their opponents to win back possession and get on the attack again.

And defensively they were great. We don’t talk enough about how accomplished Kelly has become after a hesitant start to the season. How brilliantly Stubbs has done to turn around a situation where he had slumped to fifth choice centre back and was seemingly set to leave in January. What a genuine talent Jon Tomkinson is – City have signed some very forgettable loan players over the last few years, the American isn’t one of them.

Gilliead at left wing back works so well in giving balance to the team. His quality to get up and down and link up with midfield makes City much more multi-dimensional than they are with Ridehalgh, or even the injured Lewis Richards, as left wing back. It’s a shame City let Ryan East go in January, or at least didn’t replace him, as the overall lack of central midfield options means Gilliead can’t really stay as permanent left wing back, when you can argue doing so makes City a much better team.

Of course it wasn’t all perfect. Smith struggled to link up with others and just doesn’t do enough good work outside the box. The absence of Cook loomed larger with each missed chance – and maybe the game was ultimately decided by the City number nine’s needless red card in the quarter final victory over Doncaster. Eventually, Tyreik Wright came on for Smith. And though the on-loan winger showed flashes of what he can do, the lack of a true focal point up front did hinder City.

Wycombe were largely awful. Unable to cope with the press and barely getting the ball into the City box. But they did hang in there. Their first effort on target didn’t arrive until the 78th minute, but from there Wanderers began to gain some small form of a foothold as City began to tire. If you’re going to uber-critical of Alexander, you would argue he could have made his final subs at this point. City were gradually losing their ascendancy, and an earlier introduction of Harry Chapman and Bobby Pointon might have restored that slightly flagging momentum.

Sure enough, there was a late sting in the tail. Just as five minutes of injury time were announced, Stubbs made a fatigued mistake in losing possession in a bad area, and the ball was worked to Butcher – who Halliday had failed to track because he was still in a forward position. The 26-year-old midfielder finished well with a low drive past Colin Doyle. They didn’t deserve that goal, but that’s the cruelty and harshness of football. The belated sub Chapman did go close with what proved City’s last chance to rescue the game and force penalties. Seconds later, the final whistle sounded and the anguish truly began.

So close, but the adventure ends here. And it really has been some adventure, this EFL Trophy run. In a season of league struggle and some very difficult moments, this competition kept popping up at the right time to offer City respite and reset their confidence. A remarkable 16 goals netted in the six EFL Trophy victories before tonight. A good amount of additional revenue earned, and more than a couple of individual City player careers boosted by how well they took their chance to play when called upon.

And perhaps here, even in defeat, came the biggest gift of all for City to take away. They don’t go to Wembley to face Peterborough in April, but here they got to truly rediscover their soul and to emphatically get supporters back on their side. All the off the field debates and politics parked up for 90 minutes. A back to basics, shared gathering of players, management, club staff, CEO and supporters in just desperately hoping City could do it, and feeling desperately sad when they didn’t quite manage to.

This is what being a football fan is all about. A passionate love for your team, a huge will to want them to win, and a massive feeling of dejection when they lose. I’m a 42-year-old man who left this ground reconnecting with how I used to feel as a kid when City lost. The world has ended. Don’t talk to me today please. I’m grieving.

In a season of fragmented in-fighting as a Bradford City community, here we were all on the same page and sharing in the exact same emotion of sorrow over defeat. And yes, not every City was present here, and if you’re looking at this from a distance you might think this all sounds a bit corny and false. But being here inside the stadium to witness this performance, and to be part of such a wonderful atmosphere, offered a much needed sense of belonging and togetherness that has been lacking in the Bradford City supporter experience of late.

It might be a fleeting moment, washed away all too quickly if City go and lose at Barrow this weekend and the gloom returns. But if Alexander and the players can harness these collective emotions and look after the unifying spirit that emanated from this night, there’s a genuine chance to bring this fractured club together again. The strategy and plan has been a little difficult to buy into at times this season. But ultimately – if the manager can maintain this type of performance and style of play from his team going forwards – there’s something here to get behind and fall in love with. As Alexander summed up after the game, “It’s been taken away from us. But the thing with football is that it offers you another opportunity and you have to go and take it.”

So yeah, it hurts right now. It sucks to watch City bow out of the competition, just when winning and losing in the EFL Trophy began to feel that much more important. But if the Bantams can take the huge positives into their final 13 games of this League Two season, then the adventure isn’t over at all – it’s only just beginning.

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Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2023/24, BCAFC, Football League Trophy, Wycombe Wanderers