Football League Two
Oxford 2 (0) - 1 (1) Bradford
At The Kassam Stadium on 15-01-2011
Next fixture
L2 (A) v Aldershot Town January 18 2011. K.O. 7:45PM
Current table
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/live/tables/cc_league2.html
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Fixtures
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/page/Fixtures/0,,10266,00.html
Pictures
"Last Match" Highlights on Bantams Player
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/page/player/LastMatch/0,,10266~1612005~36,00.html
Links
Taylor's post match interview is now on Youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Td6hmXv8wc
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Match stats
Oxford: Clarke, Tonkin, Wright, Batt, Worley, Hall (Heslop, 58 ) , McLaren, Clist, MacLean, Craddock (Sangare, 89 ) , Midson (Constable, 58 )
Subs not used: Eastwood,Green,Payne,Deering,
Goals
MacLean 77
Craddock 82
Bradford: Pidgeley, Oliver, Eckersley, O'Brien, Threlfall ( Hanson, 88 ) , Kiernan, Daley ( Speight, 58 ) ,
Bullock, Adeyemi, Syers, Cullen ( Evans, 46 )
Subs not used: Osborne, McLaughlan, Horne, Hunt,
Goal
Syers 9
Bookings: McLaren (Oxford) Speight , Syers (Bradford)
Attendance: 7068
Referee: David Phillips (West Sussex)
STAT ATTACK
U's / C's
8 Shots On Target 2
10 Shots Off Target 0
6 Fouls (Conceded) 9
13 Corners 1
1 Yellow Cards 2
0 Red Cards 0
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Saturday evening match report
City lost a game they had been winning at half-time for the second week running.
Trailing to David Syers' seventh goal of the season, in-form Oxford hit back with two late goals to claim their
sixth win in seven games.
But the Bantams could have little complaint after an afternoon that was dominated by the home team.
City got off to the perfect start when David Syers hooked home from Robbie Threlfall's corner after nine minutes.
It was their only shot and corner of the first half, with the rest of it spent protecting what they had got.
City had the strong wind at their backs but found themselves constantly pushed back by the home side.
Determined defending kept Oxford at bay although Lenny Pidgeley almost gave away an equaliser right on the break,
fumbling an Asa Hall shot but Jack Midson could not force in the loose ball.
Pidgeley made a crucial near-post save from Tom Craddock early in the second half as Oxford looked to carry on
where they had left off.
Oxford cranked up the pressure with Rob Kiernan preventing a certain goal from Craddock and Pidgeley saving at full
stretch from sub James Constable.
The one-way traffic continued. Threlfall produced another fantastic sliding block and Constable thumped a free
header wide.
City's resistance was finally broken 13 minutes from time. Pidgeley found Constable's shot too hot to handle and
Steve Maclean forced in the rebound.
It was no surprise that having got their breakthrough at last, Oxford quickly struck again.
Constable was the provider driving low across goal and Craddock popped up at the far post to turn home.
So back-to-back defeats have left the new year bubble well and truly burst ahead of another long road trip to
Aldershot on Tuesday.
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Monday morning match report
McLaren pulls strings as Wilder's men show they have learned fast since Valley Parade hiding
6:50am Monday 17th January 2011
By Simon Parker
Oxford United 2, City 1
A visit to Britain's oldest seat of learning provided a reminder of football's most basic lesson for the bedraggled
Bantams.
In the city famed for its universities and academia, City were schooled by their hungry hosts – and you didn't need
a university degree to work out why.
Putting it simply, if you don't get the ball, you can't expect to win the match.
The stats showed that Oxford enjoyed 63 per cent of the possession. It seemed much more than that. The only sum
that didn't add up was the final score.
Just as there weren't five goals between the teams at Valley Parade in October, the 2-1 verdict did not reflect
what had just gone on. This was as one-sided an afternoon as City are likely to suffer all season.
Oxford, on this evidence, have learned fast from the naivety that saw them collapse during the second half in West
Yorkshire.
That lopsided loss was one of six in seven games which suddenly threw up question marks about whether the league
new boys and boss Chris Wilder had been found out by the step-up a division.
The answer is a resounding no. Saturday was their sixth win in seven since, a run that has seen them ease five
points past Peter Taylor's sorry lot.
Wilder's side are full of confidence; the youthful enthusiasm from the likes of Damian Batt and Anthony Tonkin, the
goals of Tom Craddock and James Constable and the round-the-block know-how he recently added by recruiting Paul
McLaren from Tranmere.
City fans know what McLaren is all about, though he himself has been the first to admit that his year at the club
was a complete flop.
But given time and space, there is no more precise passer from that deep midfield role – and City gave him all the
room needed to pull the strings effortlessly on his first appearance at the Kassam.
With full backs Tonkin and Batt bombing past him up and down the flanks, Oxford were given a free rein to attack,
attack and attack again.
So we saw a 90-minute version of an attack v defence training drill. And all this after the Bantams had, once
again, struck first.
Only nine minutes had gone when they forced their solitary corner. Robbie Threlfall's kick swirled on the strong
wind, David Syers nodded goalwards and Omar Daley's flailing leg caused enough unrest in the six-yard box to see
the ball sneak in.
It was an unexpected reward from a rare excursion into Oxford territory. The rest of the first half, and most of
the second, was spent defending the away goal.
Taylor had opted for pace over power up top, with Mark Cullen and Daley forming a diddy strike force. James Hanson,
who had not trained all week, and Gareth Evans were consigned to bench duties.
The thinking was to exploit any lack of speed in a back four that had shipped more home goals than any other in
League Two. The plan never got off the ground.
Taylor had seen enough by half-time and replaced a tiring Cullen with Evans. Jake Speight quickly followed in place
of Daley, who had just wasted a huge opportunity to double City's advantage.
A second goal would have rewarded the gutsy defending going on at the other end. Oxford, though, would have viewed
it as a travesty.
Having peppered away at the City box, a blunder by Asa Hall on the halfway line threatened to hand the visitors
some much-needed breathing space.
Evans accepted the gift and released Daley one on one with Ryan Clarke. The Jamaican looked favourite to score but
the Oxford keeper celebrated his new contract by pulling off a top-class smother.
Normal service swiftly resumed as wave after yellow wave pounded at the City penalty area.
Lenny Pidgeley blocked from Craddock and substitute Constable, while Rob Kiernan and Threlfall threw themselves
boldly in the path of other goal-bound efforts.
City had one last sniff of a breakaway but Speight's sloppy pass found a defender rather than intended target
Evans.
Constable, Oxford's leading scorer, had provided fresh impetus on his arrival. Prepared to shoot at the slightest
possibility, he rumbled around and got the crowd going.
He knew, they knew, we all knew that City's resistance would be breached sooner or later. The fact that they hung
on as long as the 77th minute should not disguise Oxford's total dominance.
Constable was the instigator but Pidgeley should have done better dealing with his well-struck thump. Instead the
ball deflected off the keeper and fell for Steve Maclean to force in at the far post, despite the desperate efforts
of Kiernan.
From that point, there was only going to be one outcome. City's shattered defensive limbs faced another huge
examination to stave off Oxford's renewed surge for a winner. They survived only four more minutes.
Constable, who else, charged down the right and when his low cross spun off Threlfall's heel and across the
goalmouth, there was Craddock to convert another scrambly finish.
Taylor threw the dice and brought on Hanson and there was a slither of hope when Luke Oliver's flick skimmed past
the post. But having seen so little of the play for so long, it was expecting too much for City to suddenly conjure
up a last-gasp comeback.
They had failed their Oxford examination and the 500-plus away fans trailed away convinced that this will be
another flunked season.
Attendance: 7,068
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We have to mind the gap, says Bantams ace Threlfall
5:40pm Monday 17th January 2011
By Simon Parker
City can prove the critics wrong at Aldershot tomorrow night, according to Robbie Threlfall.
Back-to-back losses have left them six points behind the play-offs and removed the feelgood factor that began the
new year.
Wins over Lincoln and Bury have been consigned to history after City were beaten by Barnet and Oxford.
Threlfall admitted: "That's the highs and lows of football. Losing the last two has cancelled out what we'd done.
"We can't let the gap (to the play-offs) get any bigger now. We know we need to be more consistent.
"Aldershot's going to be another tough one but we've got to look at it as a great chance to come back and prove
everyone wrong."
Threlfall made only his second start since September at the Kassam Stadium. Like the rest of the back four, he
faced a huge workload as the home side poured forward at will.
Despite the one-sided pattern of the game, the young left back felt that City could have seen the job through.
"I think it was 80 minutes of solid defending but we still thought we could hang on.
"We were under the cosh but you expect a bit of pressure away from home. It was just frustrating we couldn't see it
through.
"We had a great chance to go 2-0 up with Omar (Daley), and if that had gone in it would have changed the game as
well.
"The team defended pretty solidly and we're all disappointed with the goals at the end.
"Their first one took it out of us and then the second just spun off my heel. I lost my bearings and the lad got
the cross in.
"But it was coming because we were under so much pressure. Now we've got to put that behind us and look to bounce
back against Aldershot.
"They've got a new manager but sometimes that can work both ways. Hopefully we can get a result there."
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HUTCHINGS SET TO BE JEWELL'S ASSISTANT AT IPSWICH
Ipswich Town boss Paul Jewell looks set to appoint his former Bradford City,
Wigan and Derby assistant Chris Hutchings as his number two at Portman Road.
Hutchings (53) was sacked as manager of Walsall last week and was always
expected to be reunited with Jewell at Town.
Jewell said: "I'm going to bring in a senior coach to work alongside me.
That will happen next week.
"Chris is a terrific coach and we've enjoyed success both at Bradford and at
Wigan. Chris is most certainly well in the frame.
"I've got a couple of people to speak to and hopefully I want to get it
nailed down no later than Tuesday if I can."
The new Blues manager has already brought in his former Bradford strike
partner Sean McCarthy as a coach and says the one-time Truro City boss has
enjoyed his first two days at Playford Road: "I played with Sean, he was the
greediest striker I've ever played with.
"Sean will work alongside us. He has great enthusiasm, a good knowledge of
the game and he's loving every second of it."
Jewell confirmed that Darren O'Dea will be on loan until May and he will
look at Rory Fallon and Jake Livermore's situations next week: "I think
Darren's is done to the end of the season, I think that was agreed before I
got here and I'm quite happy with that.
"Rory's loan is up next weekend. I'll speak to Rory and I spoke to Peter
Reid yesterday and we'll make that decision next week."
Jewell will have the on-loan Pablo Couñago and Lee Martin watched when they
play for Crystal Palace and Charlton respectively this weekend, while Town's
third loanee Kevin Lisbie is ineligible to face the Blues for Millwall.
The new boss, who will also talk to people at the club who know more about
the players involved, confirmed that Town can recall any of the loanees from
their spells if he wants them.
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SEAN McCARTHY JOINS JEWELL AT IPSWICH
Paul Jewell has appointed Sean McCarthy as coach as he builds his backroom
staff at Portman Road. The City striker has signed a contract to keep him
with the club until 2013 and will be in the dugout when Jewell takes charge
at Millwall on Saturday.
The big Welsh striker was signed from Plymouth Argyle for £250k at the
beginning of the 1990-91 season. He went on to play for the Bantams 160
times and he scored an impressive tally of 79 goals, before joining Oldham
Athletic for £500k in December 1993.
He was City's top scorer four seasons in a row. In the 1992-93 season he
scored 17 league goals and his strike partner Jewell weighed in with 16.
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RONNIE WALLWORK ARRESTED IN STOLEN CARS PROBE
Ex-Bradford City loanee Ronnie Wallwork - who played for us back in 2004 -
has been arrested by police investigating serious and organised crime across
the north west.
The former Manchester United player (33) was questioned in connection with
the handling of stolen vehicles which have allegedly been used in crimes
across the region.
He was arrested on suspicion of theft of motor vehicles as he arrived at
Manchester Airport on a flight.
The arrest was made by officers from Titan - a collaboration of specialist
cops from six forces across the north-west established to tackle serious and
organised crime. Mr Wallwork, from Failsworth, Oldham, was bailed until next
week, when he could be charged with the offences.
Midfielder Wallwork joined City on loan in January 2004 from West Brom. He
made 7 appearances for the Bantams and scored 4 goal before returning to The
Hawthorns in the March.
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