By Jason McKeown

The mental scars run deep. There’s a robust layer of self-protection against getting carried away by any green shoots of Bradford City recovery. Eight years of decline and stagnation leave you possessing stubbornly high levels of wariness. You’re almost waiting for it all to go wrong, because it always goes wrong.

And yet, here again, an obvious banana skin was neatly side-stepped. The Bantams defeated an opposition, Harrogate Town, who have habitually inflicted embarrassment and a catalogue of rock-bottom moments upon them. This time, the self-destruct button stayed unpressed. City got the job done, racking up a seventh straight home win in the process. In truth, it wasn’t a victory that will live long in the memory, but it emanated professionalism and competence. Qualities Bradford City have lacked for too long, and which numerous false dawns in the recent past leaves us a long way off taking for granted.

It is only the second time in five attempts they’ve beaten Harrogate at home. Weirdly, it was very similar to that other occasion – December 2022 – with the Bantams scoring extremely early and managing the rest of the game out in some degree of comfort. This became a closer contest then it really should have been. At times it was too easy for City, yet in the end they made hard work of climbing over the line. But they’ve defeated opponents who had won seven of the nine previous competitive meetings. And that’s ultimately what matters.

Did they deserve it? Hmmm, jury out on that one. Certainly in the first half there was no doubt who was the better side. City dominated proceedings, racking up 64% possession and producing double the amount of shots on goal as the visitors. Fair to say the second half was a different story, with Harrogate coming alive and pushing hard. Over this period, Town edged possession and took their turn to produce double the amount of shots on goal as their opponents. Everyone’s favourite stat – xG – narrowly calls the game to Harrogate. That’s because Town created, and wasted, some big chances to come back.

But initially at least, this was a very good Bradford City performance. Their gameplan is becoming well established, but the consistency of its successful execution is deeply impressive. It’s about getting the ball up to the final third quickly, and then pushing up as a collective, so if they lose the ball they can press and regain possession higher up the park, instantly beginning another attack. And with so many talented footballers comfortable on the ball, it’s about quick link ups, one-twos and insightful passing that successfully cuts through opponents at high speed.

The opening goal – coming inside just two minutes – had all of this. Jack Shepherd had the ball deep and sprayed a superb long pass outwide to the rampaging Brad Halliday. Twice Harrogate stopped City’s drive forward, but twice City quickly got back on it again. Eventually Tyreik Wright crossed from the opposite side, Jasper Moon cleared, but crucially Pointon was right there to press and win it back. Richie Smallwood picked up possession, worked it to Romoney Crichlow, who worked it to Wright, who worked it to Pointon, and the homegrown hero crossed it towards Antoni Sarcevic, who produced a towering header that flew into the back of the net.

Nine seconds separated Pointon winning the challenge and Sarcevic’s header crossing the line. In that incredibly short time, five City players had combined to deadly effect. As the home side ran off to celebrate, you could see dizzy stars swirling above the heads of the crestfallen Harrogate players.

Just a really good City goal, with its origins lying in the fast tempo, high-press approach. And even though it was ridiculously early, City’s 1-0 advantage already felt crucial. That’s because they’ve only dropped four points all season from a winning position. And not once this campaign have they gone 1-0 up at home and not won the game. The only slight bit of drama along the way was Newport and Port Vale coming back to equalise on their trips to BD8, but both still ultimately lost.

So it was already a long way back for Harrogate. And for 45 minutes, they looked ill-equipped for the fight. City dominated the first half. They could easily have racked up a hatful, with Alex Pattison, Halliday and Pointon going close. At times City’s football was joyous to watch. It’s no secret Wright has struggled in the left wing back role and he had been deservedly demoted to back up, but right now he is taking advantage of Richards’ injury, and he carried on where he left off against Rotherham with a confident display of intelligence, skill and trickery. Halliday was equally excelling on the opposite side, with the pair providing City both defensive solidity and speed of movement to transition to attack.

Sarcevic and Pointon linked up well with them, while displaying their own clever invention and good decision-making. Smallwood and Pattison bossed the centre, easily outgunning their Harrogate counterparts that included former City midfielder Levi Sutton.

The biggest threat to City in that first half was complacency. At times it was almost too easy. Too comfortable. Crichlow – making his second City home debut – was a little rusty on a couple of occasions, which given his lack of football of late seems understandable. Aden Baldwin was not always as slick as he can be in possession. And though Calum Kavanagh was characteristically hard working up front, he struggled to meaningfully impact the game.

Kavanagh was actually taken off at the break, with Tommy Leigh deployed in the striker position. The January arrival entered a game that suddenly became more competitive. Simon Weaver had clearly had stern words with his players, and rather than sitting back passively they began to press themselves. The result was a more balanced second half. Kavanagh was taken off because of a slight knock and City definitely missed his energy. Suddenly the ball wasn’t sticking in the final third as often as it did before the break.

Harrogate had chances. Former City loanee Olly Sanderson missed a sitter when he was picked out in the box and had just Sam Walker to beat, dismally firing over. Moments later Sanderson had another chance but produced a casual flick that achieved little, when really he needed to realise he had lots of space to produce more. Soon after, a mistake by Crichlow allowed Josh March in on goal and his low shot from an angle arrowed just wide.

It wasn’t total Harrogate dominance though. Pattison played in Sarcevic after winning another press, but James Belshaw denied him with a good save. Soon after a scramble in the box saw Belshaw make an even better stop to deny an own goal. A 2-0 lead for City might have opened the floodgates, but as long as Harrogate only narrowly trailed they had hope – and they played with a spirit that suggests they can avoid getting too sucked into the relegation battle beneath them.

Harrogate’s improvement meant the sense of jeopardy increased. City no longer controlled the game and had to face up to periods of visiting pressure. The tension and City drop off was enough to prompt groans and angst from the home crowd. It wasn’t the most encouraging 45 minutes of football City have produced of late, but their game management was once again encouraging. The strength of the bench undoubtedly played a part, with Michael Mellon, Jamie Walker, Paul Huntington and Callum Johnson introduced at different intervals, and each bringing valuable energy and composure to help City see it out, despite some late scares. A special word for Jack Shepherd, who was superb and was somehow overlooked for the sponsor’s man of the match.

This threatened to be a testing week for Graham Alexander. The streaky nature of his tenure so far invited questions over how quickly they would recover from last Saturday’s set back of losing to Wimbledon. A 1-0 win in the cup on Tuesday, and now a 1-0 win in the league, makes for a very encouraging response. And the calm, focused way that City have picked themselves from disappointment is a fitting reflection of the manager himself.

As we watch on while nursing our mental scars of the past disappointments, we are all probably guilty of not giving Alexander as much credit as he deserves. And it’s high time, really, that we redress that. Because there’s no doubt Alexander is doing a very good job managing a club that has felt unmanageable. He is succeeding where bigger names and bigger egos could not. City’s powers-that-be are reaping the rewards of standing by their man. Of letting him build, when too often in the past they have been trigger-happy.

This was Alexander’s 73rd game in charge of the Bantams, and from it he delivered his 37th win. It means he has a win ratio of 50.7%. In Bradford City’s history, only Roy McFarland (54.7%) and Jack Foster (52.6%) have better records. But neither of these men managed the Bantams for as long as Alexander already has. McFarland was in charge for 64 games between May 1981 and November 1982. Foster had 19 games at the helm from January to May 1928. No Bradford City manager has a winning record as good as Alexander’s in the last 43 years.

It’s taken time of course, but we’ve seen Alexander find a workable plan to get City going again – and he’s shown he can adapt and refine it when opposition teams have got wise to it. Proof of the system’s durable quality is the fact he has been able to rotate his squad and cope with more significant injury problems, with strong results still coming. That Crichlow aside, he’s not needed to throw the January arrivals straight into the team.

It’s now 11 wins from the last 14 games. Five clean sheets from the last six matches (the same number of clean sheets as they achieved over the first 32 games of the season, before this run). There’s a wider spread of goalscorers at the other end, which is no mean feat given they’ve lost the services of the prolific Andy Cook.

Away from the impressive tactical approach, Alexander speaks so well and with such humility. Witness his comments in the build up to this game about Sanderson, returning to Valley Parade just weeks after his time at City had disappointingly fizzled out. Alexander held his hands up for his role in Sanderson’s struggles, “I made a mistake with Olly…players have to have the responsibility of performing and competing, but I don’t believe I maybe gave him the support he needed as a young player coming out on loan to us.”

How many other managers in this situation would take on this level of accountability? Especially just before a game where Sanderson could feasibly have come back to haunt City, leaving the manager open for criticism because he was admitting he had failed to get the best out of the player.

But he’s not soft either. When asked pre-match if Harrogate are a bogey team for the Bantams, he dismissed such theories. Believing you have a bogey team is “down to a weak mentality, it’s giving yourself an excuse not to perform to your highest level”. Again, these are pre-match words that could have aged badly. But the mentality is clearly stronger, and the way he has turned round City’s habitual home failings is remarkable. Tag in the end of last season, and it’s 14 wins from the last 18 home league matches. Our season tickets might have gone up in price, but they’re truly representing value for money.

Most of all, Alexander is open and honest about his own weaknesses and his own development. “I’m learning to manage in a slightly different way right now,” he revealed midweek, when asked about making the most of having a large squad. “I haven’t been this manager before. I believe the game has changed, players have changed, and the dynamic of the football matches have changed. How intense it is, and the pressure. So I’ve started to even change a winning team, which I’ve hardly ever done before, but I believe we have to right now. And maybe my fingers were burned from the start of the season in terms of how many players were missing, how much it hurt us, and we’re all trying to do our best to make sure it doesn’t happen again if possible.”

There’s such an openness to Alexander. A genuine humbleness. He admits to learning lessons and he tells you how he’s applying that learning. And again, you compare this candidness to other City managers of the recent past, and the contrast is vast.

It all makes Alexander accessible and relatable. You can see he has flaws, because he is open about them himself. But that honesty invites trust and respect. We have an imperfect leader who is striving to do better. He is visibly seeking to improve the club and himself. Trying to find the answers, rather than pretending he had them all along.

Too often in the past, a manager has come in and been instantly held up as the saviour. Gradually it begins to go wrong. The manager doesn’t seem to recognise or admit their own failings, meaning our belief and confidence in them is quickly eroded, and they are branded as failures when they inevitably depart. This is a different journey. Alexander has never been Alexander the Great in our eyes. He’s been a run-of-the-mill manager, tasked with reviving a run-of-the-mill team. For a club hierarchy and fanbase that in the past has been too guilty of investing in the cult of the manager, this all feels like a deeply satisfying experience. He’s not the messiah. He’s just a very decent football manager.

How far Alexander can take City is unclear. And the second half struggles here will keep some sort of lid on expectations. But City are in a really strong position right now, and a huge part of the reason for lying fourth in League Two – with the chance to move into the automatics on Tuesday when they play their game in hand – is the methodical, unruffled management of Alexander.

He is the antidote this club needed to recover from its rut. The best hope we have of fixing those mental scars.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2024/25, BCAFC, Harrogate Town, League Two