| Doncaster Rovers 3 |
| Molyneux 6, Gibson 22, Sharp 44 |
| Bradford City 1 |
| Swan 12 |
By Jason McKeown
You can pick your own cliché about crashing back down to Earth, bubbles bursting and sobering up. Like all cliches they are based on truisms – and the cold reality for Bradford City is that their dream start to the season has just been rudely interrupted by its first bump.
Defeat, for the first time in any competition this season, dampens spirits and prompts some reforecasting over the Bantams’ ceiling potential. This was certainly City’s worst performance of the campaign so far. They were second best to a Doncaster side who leapfrogged them and now stand joint top of the fledgling League One table.
But whilst the setback and nature of the defeat stings, it shouldn’t be cue for any lingering doom to set in. As a fanbase, we’ve collectively done a commendable job of holding the line against getting carried away by the club’s swashbuckling start. There hasn’t been any attempt to place expectation on what flying out of the blocks could mean. We’ve largely focused on enjoying the moment. And though this clearly wasn’t an afternoon to enjoy, it shouldn’t seriously blemish the overall feelgood factor.
If we’re not going to attach too much meaning to City’s wonderful start, we certainly shouldn’t be overplaying the significance of a first stumble.
The simple fact is Doncaster played really well and City weren’t quite at the races. The passing not as crisp. The defensive organisation below par. The forward players too quiet. Graham Alexander’s rotation is working well, but the Saturday-Tuesday schedule has been unrelenting. This was City’s eighth game in 28 days and it showed.
Of course, Doncaster will rightly point out that they have played the same number of games over that time. And that writing this defeat off as tiredness from City does their opponents a disservice. Donny were really good, and their form is excellent. This was a fifth straight victory in all competitions. They’ve now only lost one of their last 21 games, in fact. They are unbeaten at home since February 15.
They certainly had the measure of City, looking sharp right from kick off and taking just six minutes to strike the first blow. Lovely football cut City open and former Bantam Jordan Gibson was sent clean through on goal. Aden Baldwin – back at the scene of that infamous red card – did well to get back and make a last-ditch sliding tackle, but Gibson didn’t give up. He raced outwide to get the loose ball, before turning and crossing for Luke Molyneux to head home. By the time Gibson had sent the ball over City had plenty of shirts back, but no one was marking Molyneux.
So 1-0 behind early, but there was initially a very good visitor response. City found some fluidity and attacking rhythm, taking control of the tempo and pressing effectively. It soon paid off. Antoni Sarcevic teed up Bobby Pointon for an angled shot. The Doncaster keeper Thimothée Lo-Tutala – signed on loan from Hull – spilled the ball and Will Swan tapped home. We spoke a couple of weeks ago that Swan was averaging 83.3 minutes a goal. Well, that’s since got even better. After this 90-minute outing, the 24-year-old is averaging 75.6 minutes a goal. Will Swan Again Ole Ole indeed.
A quick extra talking point on the City goal – and that is the error from Lo-Tutala. It seems to be a weird early season trend that the Bantams keep coming up against goalkeepers who gift them goals. Wycombe’s Mikki van Sas, Blackburn’s Nicholas Michalski, Luton’s Josh Keeley, Wimbledon’s Nathan Bishop and now Lo-Tutala. I mean…thanks guys, for your charitable efforts. And if other League One keepers want to keep the pattern going, we’re not going to complain.
The equaliser initially spurred City on to dominate even more, but the ascendancy was suddenly switched back when Doncaster scored again. Joe Wright went to control a long ball, but his first touch was poor, allowing Gibson to nip it off his toes, race through on goal and finish well.
Gibson didn’t quite exhibit his Carlisle 2022 levels of glee at again netting against his former club, but he couldn’t hide his joy either. And fair play. Unpopular opinion, I always liked Gibson at City and don’t really get why he gets such a rough time from other fans. The Carlisle celebration wasn’t brilliantly judged, but he’s entitled to bear some grudges against City for how his time at the club played out. (And fair enough, fans are absolutely entitled to give it back.)
From there City were very much second best. They could not get to grips with Doncaster’s 4-2-3-1 approach that saw Gibson, Harry Clifton and Molyneux find a lot of joy from operating in the space behind City’s midfield two and in front of the back three. Tommy Leigh has done so well this season, but this wasn’t his game. Opposition teams are also getting wiser to the need to close off Josh Neufville, with James Maxwell equipping himself very well against the City wing-back.
Defensively City were awful in that first half. Wright hasn’t quite looked the same player since returning from concussion injury and he struggled badly. The wily Billy Sharp was clever in pushing Wright into places he didn’t really want to be. Curtis Tilt also had a tough time, lacking the mobility to cope with Doncaster’s crisp movement.
And so before half time, Sharp made it 3-1. Tilt was booked for a foul inside the Doncaster half. Lo-Tutala sent the free kick out wide, where it was headed towards the penalty area by Maxwell. Baldwin should have cleared it but hesitated, allowing Sharp to latch onto it, find space and finish superbly. How many times has bloody Sharp scored against City during his career? I make that 10 goals in 12 appearances now versus the Bantams, going all the way back to 2005. You can only admire and hate the guy in equal measure.
Half time brought about a City reshuffle. The bedraggled Joe Wright and the anonymous Pointon taken off, with Tyreik Wright and Stephen Humphrys brought on. Ibou Touray – who like against Wimbledon showed signs he could do with a breather – tucked in as centre back with Tyreik Wright left wing back. Humphrys partnered Swan, in a switch from 3-4-3 to 3-4-1-2.
And it helped City to a point. They were better – which perhaps isn’t saying much – and gamely made more of a fight of it. But they were largely kept an arm’s length by Doncaster, who showed excellent game management. The home side defended deeper, slowed the game down when they could, but also showed enough attacking ambition to threaten on the break. Deep in stoppage time, Sam Walker had to make an excellent stop to prevent Doncaster making it 4-1.
For City, Baldwin almost pulled one back when he just couldn’t quite connect with Touray’s cross just after the hour. That was about it for goalmouth action. Brad Halliday, Nick Powell and Alex Pattison would come on to join the fight. But for all the possession and territorial advantage in the second half, there was no real cutting edge. City would end the game with Swan’s goal their only effort on target.
We know from last season just how much City struggle when they have more of the ball and when their opponents operate with a low block. So the way that the first half events set up the second half simply wasn’t going to suit them. They couldn’t really press. Couldn’t really pass their way through. It is a problem City are likely to face more often as the season goes along. That blueprint of how to stop Bradford City, which Wimbledon’s Johnnie Jackson almost successfully utilised last week, was evidently passed on to Grant McCann and deployed effectively. Not that McCann probably needed any guide, this was the third win in a row the Rovers boss has masterminded over City.
There have been signs this defeat has been coming. The Wimbledon victory was joyous and memorable, but it exposed a few cracks. The Grimsby midweek cup success was similarly far from flawless. A fairytale ending with Andy Cook netting twice, which overshadowed City’s struggles to overcome a youthful, 10-men League Two Grimsby. The last three performances haven’t quite been at the standard previously set and that’s a trend which quickly needs addressing. It’s also only one clean sheet in seven league games this season, which is something to keep an eye on. And is it too early to suggest City’s away league form remains a problem? Probably.
But still. Whilst you can never be sure how well a win or defeat will age in terms of its longer-term significance, right now this loss should not be treated as majorly serious. It’s nothing to keep anyone awake at night worrying about the overall strategy. The knives need not be sharpened.
Because perspective is really important. Game 10 of the season, the first defeat. It’s a first loss, in fact, since City were beaten on this ground by Doncaster in April. On that rollercoaster of an afternoon, City trooped out of the Eco Stadium fearing their world was collapsing. Their promotion hopes seemed to be in tatters (before Accrington did us a huge favour by beating Walsall). This time around, we slump back to West Yorkshire disappointed – but with so much to be positive about over the way the season is shaping up.
So it’s about taking the medicine. Dusting ourselves down. Learning and applying the lessons. The Bantams were never going to go unbeaten forever. Now we get to find out how they react. And there is no better way to bounce back than by winning next week’s huge West Yorkshire derby.
Categories: Match Reviews
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It pains me to say it but this was a shambles. All Donny’s goals were very preventable, as was ours. We have looked far too open in midfield in the last couple of matches and it was very naive to go gung-ho today like we did. We seem to lack that kind of player in midfield who knows how to sit and break up play. Personally I think we needed to upgrade Smallwood not dispense outright with the position. The second goal was a shocking individual error that had say Ash Taylor made it he would have been vilified. Let’s hope it’s a one-off and Wright won’t repeat it. (Being outmuscled in the last league match for a goal was not good either.) Some of our players today looked as though they might struggle to make the step up. It’s the first defeat in ten matches so in itself it is not a great cause for concern, but we were very poor. Touray was the shining exception but then as, we are now seeing, he is an exceptional player. We now begin to see the need for so many centre-halves on the books with Tilt looking hamstrung.
far be it for me to disagree, even a little bit, with Jason. Rovers weren’t that good.They played as well as City allowed them to play. Having clawed our way back into the game at 1-1, to gift them two further goals with bad individual errors we were never going to head back to West Yorkshire with anything. Before the match I half expected Graham Alexander to spring a surprise and include Cook on the bench. At the end I wish he’d done just that. We threw balls into the box and I think Andy would have relished being in there causing havoc.
You can’t win every game. I thought we looked very, very tired today. We have a week to dust ourselves down and get ready for the big game next week. Excellent start to the season and I remain very pleased so far.
The reason why Gibson gets a hard time from City fans is because of his antics at Carlisle. He’s a proper little sh*thouse. There’s nothing hard to understand about that.
I don’t think Baldwin and Leigh are upto league one standard.
McCann and Doncaster have our number the same as Evans and Rotherham did in the Parky era.
No need to sack GA, onwards and upwards against “big club” next week 💪
As i have said before Gibson only is effective against us.
If i was McCann i would be asking him why???
He has obviously decided he doesnt like us and raises his game. We made mistakes getting rid of Omari Patrick and Gibson who will always come back to haunt us.
Interesting you single out Baldwin and not Wright who has coughed up errors that cost us goals in two of the last games. Or for that matter Kelly, who has struggled to adjust, especially when on the ball. For me Baldwin was the pick of the centre halves yesterday (acknowledging it was a low bar) and has generally been very good so far this season. He’s also the best ball player we have at the back IMO, which we’ve seen a number of times already when setting up attacks with long raking passes. As in the past he seems a player some fans just won’t warm to, but personally I think he’s being judged really unfairly.
Tilt was also off his game yesterday and together with Wright doesn’t possess much pace – Baldwin is the quickest in a straight line race.
Footballs all about opinions and yes he’s made some mistakes in the past (but all our players have), but I’ve always thought some fans are ignoring what they see, because they’ve made up their mind they don’t like him.
I’ve had a running bet with a pal that as soon as we lose, Baldwin will be singled out.
Your right, Wright was poor too he has been since he’s come back from his concussion.
I’m harsher on Baldwin as he’s made a lot of errors previously. I probably and maybe unfairly hone in on him. I’m always waiting for his next gaff!
kelly is struggling as well.
We were second best yesterday same as last year when we played Donny.
So many comments about “a bad day at the office” on social media.
Reality is we were like the Civil Service . . . . working from home today!
Good commentary Janson, and you are right, its not the end of the world, we lost a match, we will lose others but (🤞) win more.
You can’t win them all, A well organised Doncaster team who like to soak up the pressure and hit on the counter.
I wonder if it was me but the pitch seemed very dry today, similar to Northampton away and i don’t feel the ball moved freely. I understand it’s the both for same teams but i felt it slowed City down and it might have been something Donny looked at prior to the game.
A free midweek will hopefully allow the players to rest and bounce back next Saturday. Unfair at this stage to call out players given it’s 1 defeat in 10 now. I’m sure it will be reviewed in training and learnings taken.
Didn’t we simply get a bit of our own medicine? We had nearly 60% of the ball that we didn’t want and doesn’t really suit us. Donny did to us what we like to do to others – low possession but hit when the chances present themselves. We’ll learn, we’ll adapt and we’ll be winning again real soon. Nothing to be too worried about as we’ve had an amazing run that has now come to an end and in reality, takes a little bit of pressure off the lads. No point in singling any player out for any criticism as they’re a team of close players together who had a blip – that’s all!
I was going to say something about Jordan Gibson and a small locked room with my best steel-capped boots on but I won’t. I’m sure he’s a thoroughly lovely bloke behind the City wind up routine.
So now we move onto the big one next Saturday after a good week of training and planning!!
Thanks for the artical Jason.
Seeing Gibson & Sharp doing their ‘chicken’ impressions in front of us all, was definitely NOT on my weekend wish list. I remember Brian Clough once saying he never ever looked at the league table until Forest had played 7 games. So if we take Cloughy’s golden rule & apply it to ourselves, it makes very good reading indeed. It’s been a terrific start to a new season in a higher league for sure, & I honestly believe yesterday’s under par performance & poor result will only serve to focus minds & strengthen determination ahead of our big derby game next Saturday. Being honest about it, this didn’t feel like the bubble bursting to me, more like a blip on the journey than anything else, & that’s just a measure of just how far we’ve improved really. Maybe a bad day at the office, but a week to refocus now & take a well earned rest before that team from Calderdale visits us next Saturday.
Up the Bantams!
I’m not having this “tired” excuse used by some. Other than injury prevention whats the point of it if people are going to cite a busy schedule excuse? Many yesterday didn’t play Tuesday.
“Fatigue doesn’t explain the ridiculous tactic of playing an attacking midfielder behind a so called defensive midfielder. This failed the team and both Leigh and Power themselves.
I’ve questioned elsewhere that our biggest issue in recruitment was central midfield. Apart from a young midfielder still learning the game, who covers Power for instance? Power himself has struggled at times and a certain Smallwood would have slaughtered for some of his shooting attempts and wayward passes. Surely Leigh signed has an attacking midfielder and even described by GA has somone who can deputise has striker needed to be playing in front of his partner?
Still a great start obviously and don’t want to be negative after one defeat. But it’s an area that needs looking at imo.
should say the point of rotation 🙂
Gibson was young when he was here, during that shocking period when we tumbled down through L1 and seemingly had a new manager every few months.
He would have faded into obscurity as just another exitee from the club, had it not been for his father’s incessant whinging and moaning on social media, which is where they reaction to him comes from.
What I am most worried about, is that we have a team capable of being fantastic one game and then like against Northhampton & Donny on another day. I am fully with GA on the rotation thing but on certain occasions we should go “Horses for Courses” . Yesterday a couple of players seemed to drop there heads when it became evident that things wernt going our way. We have been going till the end before this so this is also something for the fans to be concerned about and for GA to sort out.
Good report Jason. We’re still on a learning curve and the team are still going through the gelling process. GA is still learning to adapt to opposition’s tactics and hopefully they have learned from Saturday’s defeat? We shouldn’t forget the fantastic start to the season which hopefully gives us a good foundation to build on. Too early to criticise and pass judgement no need to panic and be fickle. Let’s get behind the boys this Saturday and be that twelfth man.