By Jason McKeown

There we were, back on the cliff edge, peering once more into the bleak abyss and trying not to fall. 1-0 down to Morecambe – bloody Morecambe! – with the alarm bells dinging, the knives sharpening and the storm clouds swirling. Hello darkness my old friend. We’ve come to talk with you again.

But just as all hope was lost, Graham Alexander reached into his trouser pocket, pulled an item out and tossed it onto the pitch. It was a get out of jail free card. Jack Shepherd powerfully headed home a late, late equaliser for Bradford City that spares some very big blushes. It was a goal that defuses what would have proven an extremely angry inquest. The Bantams have taken a step away from the cliff edge.

It should never be forgotten that football supporting is about moments – and in some pretty dire circumstances, we got a good one here. It had been a torturous evening stood in the away end at the Mazuma Stadium. An incredibly tough watch, which left you questioning your life’s choices and – frankly – how much longer you can go on doing this. But then Shepherd rose highest, the back of the net bulged, and joy erupted. Beautiful, manic and hedonistic celebrations that remind you why we care so much in the first place. There’s nothing like the feeling of seeing your team score an important last minute goal when you’re in the away end, especially when it’s scored right in front of you.

Maybe it didn’t feel the same if you were watching this on TV at home. Where instead of leaping around the room, you probably just wanted to change the channel and retrieve a wasted evening. But back on the North West coast, the scenes of joy felt purposeful. The best moment of the season so far? It’s on the table. Even if that probably says more about what an average start to the campaign it is proving to be.

The biggest sighs of relief then, that what was threatening to be an utterly dreadful evening had some semblance of a happy ending. It doesn’t disguise a pretty terrible performance. Nor does it do much to address the growing doubts about City’s promotional credentials. But City did show some spirit and togetherness. Dug something out when it seemed beyond them. This team avoided becoming the subject of the next chapter of Bradford City’s Big Book Of Infamy. And that’s something.

Still, it won’t take long to harvest this encounter for reasons to be positive. They were never as bad as their worst moments at Harrogate on Saturday, but this wasn’t exactly the stirring response to weekend adversity that suggests this manager and team possess deep levels of resilience and character. They were soft and passive guests to a struggling-but-improving Morecambe side, even scoring a goal for them. The Shrimpers should have used that platform to put themselves out of sight by half time. City’s eventual recovery owed as much to home failings than any true getting of their act together.

The Bantams actually started well. Controlling the first five minutes, playing with a good tempo and intent. But that was all undermined by Cheick Diabete clumsily nudging the ball past Sam Walker and into his own net, to put City behind. Diabete was trying to clear and panicked. Not great, but he can legitimately ask why former Bantam Luke Hendrie was allowed to run in behind a ball watching Tyreik Wright, why Lewis Richards completely missed the run of Paul Lewis, who was played into space, and why neither Wright or Richards got across quickly enough to reduce the time Lewis had to produce a low cross into the box. The ball should never have got to the point where Diabete did what he did.

Going behind, again, changed everything. The positive early noise in the away end soon drifted to grumbles that only got louder with each misdirected pass. The City players struggled to get on top and dictate the game. All the possession they want, as Morecambe maintained a rigid, disciplined shape. But – as we’ve spoken about so many times on WOAP over the last couple of years – City just cannot master games where they have more of the ball and need to overcome a low block.

So far this season, City have had two league games where they had less possession than the opposition – and won them both. If we discount the Bromley game (man sent off inside 10 minutes, which distorts possession stats), in the other five games City have had more possession than their opponents – and a record of W0 D2 L3. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. City will never get out of this league if they can’t develop a better plan for games when they have more of the the ball than their opponents.

All Morecambe needed to do was lie in wait. Let City pass the ball around without a real clue how to get the ball to the front two. Soon enough the visitors would play a hopeless long ball or mishit cross, and possession was conceded. Morecambe were not subtle, launching it long when they had it. But in Marcus Dackers – a gangly, 6 foot 7, 21-year-old target man, signed on loan from Salford – they had a battering ram. City’s backline just could not cope with Dackers in the opening 45 minutes at least. The home side carved out the better first half chances, with Richards going close to replicating Diabete in scoring an own goal at one point.

It was a mess. Injuries at Morecambe have forced the ex City boss Derek Adams to move to a 3-5-2 formation that has led to improved results – they were unbeaten in three coming into this, even though they are yet to win – and the extra body in midfield once again told. Alexander must have been envious. We know he wants to play 3-5-2, but centre back injuries have made it hard for him to do so. Plan B hasn’t worked and now we’re on Plan No Real Idea.

Indeed, it was – surprisingly – 4-4-2 again from Alexander. Even though it completely failed at Harrogate on Saturday, and struggled in the Wimbledon game the week before, the manager kept faith. With Paul Huntington signed on a short-term deal having trained with the club for a few weeks, Alexander could in theory have gone back to 3-5-2 here. But maybe Huntington isn’t match fit enough yet to do more than be on the bench.

The 4-4-2 once again failed. Richie Smallwood was outgunned in the centre, and the gap between midfield and back four was routinely exposed. Diabete suddenly looks a shadow of the player winning rave reviews just 10 days ago and Shepherd is also struggling defensively. The only bright spot in the backline was Jay Benn – interestingly brought in at right back with a struggling Brad Halliday dropped. Benn performed really well here and was City’s chief first half threat. He gets up and down the pitch impressively and uses the ball effectively.

But it was all so lop sided overall. The left flank of Wright ahead of Richards is not working. Wright was in what should be his natural position of left wing but struggled to get the opportunity to run and stretch the game. Richards is decent defensively but going forward his quality on the ball is simply not good enough. So many times he got into promising positions and wasted possession with a terrible pass.

So City went in at the break 1-0 down and lucky it wasn’t worse. Not a single shot on target, adding to the fact they’d only had one effort on target – Andy Cook’s goal – at Harrogate on Saturday. Cook and Calum Kavanagh had a combined total of just 24 touches of the ball in the first half. Morecambe’s front two of Dackers and Ben Tollitt had 60 between them.

Something had to change, Graham. And so we waited to see what the City boss would do.

And we waited.

And we waited.

It was not exactly inspiring stuff. City emerged for the second half with no tactical tweaks or substitutions. And the pattern of the game largely remained the same. Eventually Vadaine Oliver came on for the utterly anonymous Kavanagh. Big Man Big Man up front. A move to go more direct. All very meh. For such a big guy, it’s curious how little Oliver seems to win in the air. He’s not a great sub for retrieving losing situations either. This was the 34th time he’s come off the bench in the league for City since signing in 2022 – he’s only scored once as a Bantams sub.

Oliver’s presence did help, especially compared to Kavanagh. There was fight and spirit in the team for sure. This was not a disinterested bunch of players, buckling under the weight of performing at a club that does not believe it should be in League Two. Quality and set up were the real issues. Jamie Walker kept on the right wing was a mistake. Though in Alexander’s defence, there isn’t really anyone else available who could play that position.

Walker struggled for sure but was typically brave, and others followed his example. None more so than Clarke Oduor, who was picked in the centre alongside Smallwood and had one of his best games for the club. Oduor was good in the tackle, chasing back and winning possession, as well as bringing the ball forward with purpose and setting up attacks. He was the only City player, really, who was able to dribble the ball past an opponent and stretch the game. Oduor has had his critics and hasn’t always looked the bravest. Here he stood up to be counted, and in doing so has certainly elevated himself to first team starter for the moment.

With Oduor having joy getting through Morecambe’s sturdy set up, the dynamic of the game began to slowly shift. It’s been a long time since Morecambe had won a game of football, and doubts understandably began to creep in. Sam Walker had produced two superb second half saves to keep it a nervy 1-0 scoreline. As the minutes ticked by, you could see their players become more edgy, their shape begin to buckle, and their decision-making worsen.

Adams made changes to try and regain that composure, but Morecambe increasingly looked like a team crawling to the finishing line. The fact the Scot took both strikers off and brought on two midfielders didn’t exactly help. One of Adams’ many failings in the Valley Parade dugout was a struggle to successfully manage 1-0 leads. Here, he was about to remind us of what we used to go home grumbling about him for. Please keep enjoying him, Morecambe fans.

Because Alexander brought on Tyler Smith for Walker and went 4-3-3, the pressure grew and there was time to make Morecambe pay for not putting the game to bed. A scramble from a corner saw the ball cleared to Wright, who sent over a delicious cross that Shepherd headed home. It was a good reminder of Wright’s quality and what he can offer if he can just get his confidence going again. The one decent cross of the night, after so many hopeless balls into the box from City players.

If the game had more than four minutes of stoppage time, City probably would have found a winning goal. Momentum was with them and they pushed. Shepherd again went close with the game’s final kick. Still, when you’ve been losing 1-0 since the fifth minute, you have to take the point. And yes, Morecambe’s league position strongly indicates it’s two points dropped. But when you scratch beneath the surface of their league record (all five of Morecambe’s defeats were 1-0 rather than thrashings, and they’ve now drawn their last four), this was never the gimmie that the League Two table suggested.

And as much as this hasn’t been a great couple of weeks for City, there are some signs of positivity. A six-day break before Newport travel to Valley Parade on Monday should mean there are enough fit centre halves to go back to 3-5-2 – and the formation this squad has been built for. As well as Huntington, Niall Byrne and Aden Baldwin are said to be near to full fitness. That means perhaps a struggling Diabete can even be withdrawn from the firing line. Options instead of thinbare.

Return Wright to left wing back, allow Smallwood to be the holder, and deploy Oduor and Jamie Walker as number 8s, and you’ve pretty much got a good plan for Monday. No idea which out of form striker you play alongside Cook, but the team isn’t far off picking itself – for the right reasons.

Alexander has played his get out of jail card here and survived a round of much tougher scrutiny. He deserves criticism for sure, and his continuation of a 4-4-2 is worrying. In his defence, he will argue that last March when he had injuries and tried to keep a 3-5-2 set-up, City were horrendous and went through that infamous spell of four straight defeats and conceding 13 goals – the run that almost sent the Bantams over that cliff edge. So yes, the last four games of 4-4-2 haven’t been great, and two points from 12 is not a fantastic return, but hopefully this was as bare to the bones as City will be with injuries this season. It seems that we’re coming to the other side of having an over-worked physio.

With more players back, City should improve – as they did last season.

But we can’t pretend we didn’t just spend the night dangling on that cliff edge once more. Without Shepherd’s right place right time moment, the outlook would look very different right now. Alexander would be coming under huge pressure, and with it louder questions once again asked of Stefan Rupp, Ryan Sparks and co. It doesn’t take a great leap of imagination for defeat at Morecambe to have led to the organisation of a supporter protest next week, given the Sky Sports cameras are rolling into Valley Parade for a high profile game. But with Shepherd’s rescue act, there won’t be any spikes in tennis ball sales at the Bradford branch of Sports Direct this week at least.

The hope has to be that the wild scenes that greeted Shepherd’s late equaliser is ultimately looked back on as a turning point. The moment implosion was on the horizon, but successfully avoided. If City can use this late goal as a catalyst to get some wins on the board, climb the table and look more like the promotion contenders that is expected of them, this tricky recent period will be forgiven.

The fundamentals are still there. This does look like a strong Bradford City squad – when everyone is fit. Graham Alexander is a decent football manager with the experience, character and temperament to deliver success in time. Extra investment has reportedly gone into the squad – and with David Sharpe’s expertise, in time you hope it will be proven that the additional cash has been spent wisely.

As long as Bradford City remain stuck in League Two, they will always be only a couple of bad results away from a crisis. But they’ve just about avoided another one for now. And the opportunity is there for them to make the most of this reprieve.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2024/25, BCAFC, League Two, Morecambe