Written by Jason McKeown (images John Dewhirst)

Seven days after a derby humiliation, seven goals. This won’t make up for Huddersfield. But it was a pretty good way to start getting over it.

Perhaps the change of scenery helped, even without actually changing the scenery. Same Valley Parade, very different kind of Saturday. Instead of the tension and toil of League One, Bradford City enjoyed the rare luxury of a carefree afternoon, sweeping aside a spirited but comprehensively outclassed Marine side.

Fair to say this was a complete mismatch. The 82 league places separating the two clubs were starkly evident, best illustrated by the sight of a habitually goal-shy City suddenly unable to stop scoring. They were 2-0 up inside 16 minutes and 4-0 ahead before half time. For context, they’d managed only four goals across their previous seven league games.

By full time, the seven they’d scored here was only three short of their entire league tally for the season.

At some point an imbalance becomes so great that the normal rules of analysis stop applying. Space appears that won’t be there when City entertain Doncaster in two weeks’ time. Passes come off that opponents at City’s usual level will intercept. Chances arrive in quantities that League One simply doesn’t permit. Problems that have looked complicated for weeks temporarily ceased to be problems at all.

All City could really do was take advantage. They did, mercilessly.

It became the footballing equivalent of Neville Southall’s immortal put-down to Michael Owen after he celebrated scoring against a child.

“Well done, he’s 13.”

For City, read: “Well done, they’re part-timers and they’ve only got 10 men.”

But fair play to City for not feeling any embarrassment. The professionals were professional. Ruthless right to the end. And their reward was the Bantams’ biggest home win in 54 years.

Not the day Marine wanted, then. Their fans travelled in impressive numbers and made terrific early noise. On the pitch, their ambition was admirable, but it inevitably made for an open game that suited City’s superior ability.

Really, there was no gameplan Marine could have devised that would have bridged the gulf. It was simply too big.

It helped that City took the game as seriously as they did. Michael Duff picked a strong team and, after the dip in standards at Huddersfield, there was much to prove. These are games where attitude removes the jeopardy and superior ability does the rest. City made sure of both.

And as soon as Nick Powell put City in front, they were unstoppable. Good build-up ended with Kayden Jackson crossing low for Powell to expertly finish. Five minutes later, he had another, deftly heading home Adam Phillips’ lobbed cross.

Some way to mark a first start in 14 months.

Powell’s previous, and only other, City start had come at Newcastle United in September 2025. Here, he made the opportunity count, his two goals capping a quality all-round performance.

The faith and patience Graham Alexander displayed in getting Powell to unlock his potential, despite obvious fitness limitations, continues to pay off for Bradford City. Powell was only allowed 45 minutes here, and how Marine must have been relieved to see his half time departure.

Not that Powell was their only headache. Phillips made it 3-0 after a beautiful Macaulay Gillesphey through ball left him with time and space to finish smartly. And though the game was still only 21 minutes, it was as good as over.

It was also over for Bobby Pointon. Back in the team after surprisingly being left out of the Huddersfield game, Pointon made a slightly rash tackle and hurt his knee, leading to his withdrawal. George Lapslie came on, and after speaking so eloquently, pre-match, about his time at the club and difficulties getting gametime, there was a clear desire from the crowd for him to succeed.

Before Lapslie could make his mark, City made the scoreline even more emphatic. Matt Pennington tapped in a fourth just before half-time, after Phillips got on the end of an outrageous outside of the boot Powell cross but was denied.

Then came Lapslie’s chance.

Early in the second half he won a penalty when Isaac Abandwah held him back as he attacked Jackson’s cross, with the Marine defender also shown a red card.

Lapslie took the penalty. Jack McIntyre saved it.

His disappointment didn’t last too long. Powell’s half-time replacement, Will Swan, soon swept home a superb Jackson cross to make it 5-0, before turning provider for Lapslie. City’s number 32 raced onto Swan’s through ball and scored his first goal since March 2025.

But even that came with a cruel twist. In stretching for the ball as he ran through to score, Lapslie appeared to tweak his hamstring and had to leave the pitch moments later. City had already used their subs, so the game became 10 vs 10.

At 6-0, it hardly mattered.

To their immense credit, Marine kept going. Their vociferous following was quietened but never silenced, and there were occasional moments of threat. Finlay Sinclair-Smith was denied by Jon McCracken at 2-0, while Charlie Jolley fired wide from a tight angle soon afterwards.

But these were fleeting interruptions to relentlessly one-way traffic. City’s 25 shots to Marine’s three tell the story.

Phillips should have scored a second just before half time but was blocked by McIntyre. He also had a goal disallowed early in the second half. When Stephen Humphrys came on at the hour mark, he looked desperate to make an impact and had three excellent opportunities, one of which smacked the post. Swan and Jackson might also have added to the scoreline.

A seventh goal did arrive near the end, when Jackson skipped past a challenge and laid it off to Phillips, who finished beautifully. And really it was fitting that the pair combined to have the final word. The right side of City’s attack was habitually the source of chances and goals all afternoon. Both linked up brilliantly and looked sharp. They’ve each had some ups and downs this season, but oozed quality here. Phillips earned the sponsor’s player of the match and continues his curve of improvement.

There were strong performances everywhere. Aden Baldwin and Pennington were typically assured at the back. Callum Connolly sat in front of the defence and provided a reminder of how badly he had been missed against Huddersfield. Ibou Touray offered his usual energy, while Kieran Morgan was bright if occasionally wasteful.

It all comes with an obvious asterisk. Marine operate far below the level City encounter every week and, in computer game terms, the Bantams had switched the difficulty setting to easy.

That is the oddity of games like this. City could hardly have played them better, yet there was remarkably little to learn from doing so. The gap between the sides was simply too great for the usual tests of form, tactics and confidence to mean quite what they normally would.

Mismatches this pronounced offer pleasure without providing much evidence. Seven goals doesn’t mean their scoring problems are suddenly solved. Nor will beating part-time opponents define their season.

But after Huddersfield, City needed an afternoon like this. They needed goals, enjoyment and the chance to blow away some of the frustration that has followed them around over the past week.

Nothing is proven by dishing out a footballing lesson to a non-league side. But the healing has at least begun.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2026/27, BCAFC, FA Cup, Marine FC