L2 L0-1 (H) Exeter Saturday November 16, 2012. K.O. 3:00PM. #bcafc

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Current table
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/live/tables/cc_league2.html

Fixtures
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Signings, Loans and Injuries


Injuries
Andrew Davies, knee, Out 4 months (from Nov 1st)
Luke Oliver, Achillies, out for the 2012/13 season

Striker Hines (ankle) and defenders Darby (hip) and Meredith (groin) day to day.

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Match Media & Stats

Head to Head
http://www.11v11.com/teams/bradford-city/tab/opposingTeams
http://www.statto.com/football/teams/bradford-city/

Pictures
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/sport_bantams_pics2011/

"Last Match" Highlights on Bantams Player
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/page/player/LastMatch/0,,10266~1612005~36,00.html

BBC highlights (uk only)


Match stats
http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=234#teamTabs=results

http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/gamecast?gameId=345181&action=stats&lang=EN

BCFC                    Exeter
8(3)    Shots (on Goal)    9(4)
9    Fouls    13
7    Corner Kicks    5
4    Offsides    3
50%    Time of Poss.    50%
1    Yellow Cards    2
0    Red Cards    0
3    Saves    3

Bradford City: Duke, Naylor (Thompson 76), McArdle, Egan, McHugh, Atkinson, Jones, Doyle, Forsyth (Connell 46), Hanson, Wells. Unused

substitutes: McLaughlin, Ravenhill, Brown, Bass, Baker.

Exeter City: Krysiak, Tully, Woodman, Bennett (Doherty 46), Baldwin, Coles Sercombe, Oakley, Gow (Amankwaah 84), Cureton (Bauza 90), O'Flynn.

Unused substitutes: Evans, Moore-Taylor, Keohane, Dawson.

Referee: A Haines (Tyne and Wear).

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Final whistle - match report


Every positive has a negative reaction as Bantams suffer another cup hangover

6:50am Monday 19th November 2012

By Simon Parker

Bradford City 0 Exeter City 1

This season is already shaping up into one of the most entertaining and memorable ones in years.

Here we are in mid-November and City are contenders at the right end of the table for once and still in all three cup competitions.

Even the most hard-to-please critic will admit that it makes a welcome and long overdue change.

But the Achilles heel to the club's progress has been the aftermath of all those cup dramas. They are still to win a game that follows one.

Saturday's setback was only City's second defeat at Valley Parade but it also marked the seventh occasion when they have failed to win after

playing a cup tie.

Phil Parkinson will point to the varied personnel on display and there were seven changes from the team that had begun the latest knock-out epic

against Northampton four days earlier.

But having to shuffle and freshen up the pack so regularly is a symptom of all those extra games.

However enjoyable – and lucrative in the case of the FA Cup and the approaching arrival of Arsenal – there is little doubt that the unexpected

cup progress does carry a cost.

A month or so ago, a run of fixtures that included home games with Exeter and Plymouth and a trip to Bristol Rovers looked potentially rich

pickings.

But with the injury toll and inevitable fatigue from such a heavy workload biting into resources, the challenge has suddenly become much stiffer.

The numbers on the home shirts were the giveaway on Saturday. James Hanson's nine was the only one in the first 11.

Even allowing for Gary Jones, Rory McArdle and Nathan Doyle preferring to wear double figures, they were the only four outfield survivors from

the starting line-up on the opening day at Gillingham.

With no James Meredith or Stephen Darby, McArdle is the critical figure in the back four, the senior servant by a mile.

Two of Saturday's defence were in nappies when Exeter's evergreen match-winner Jamie Cureton played the first game of his lengthy career for

Norwich. Carl McHugh had not even been born.

City's rearguard has coped remarkably well with all the upheaval since the Pirelli Stadium cruelly ripped out both halves of its heart within ten

minutes. Of course Luke Oliver and Andrew Davies have been missed but nowhere near the extent that many feared at that moment against Burton.

Derby right back Tom Naylor was the latest new face and slotted in fairly comfortably considering he'd had just an hour of training with his

team-mates the previous day.

The dilemma for Parkinson is further up the pitch, where the loss of Kyel Reid continues to hit hard.

Six weeks have gone since he could not get up from that scything tackle at Rochdale. He is on the road to recovery but it takes time – another

month according to his manager.

Zavon Hines is the closest like-for-like replacement but he, too, is in the sick bay with an injured ankle.

Parkinson wanted to exploit Exeter's narrow team shape by using the spaces on the flanks. Unfortunately, as he admitted afterwards, he did not

have the players at his disposal who fitted the job.

Will Atkinson has had a cracking campaign so far, overcoming his many doubters with consistent performances week after week. But he is at his

happiest drifting inside, not taking on the full back like an out-and-out winger.

And Craig Forsyth may offer natural balance as a left-footer but he is foremost a midfielder rather than a wideman. He does not have the pace or

guile of a Reid or Hines to take defenders on.

Forsyth had a poor game, highlighted by his guilty role in the afternoon's only goal.

Parkinson had warned about the goal-poaching nous of his old pal Cureton before the game. The neatly-taken volley two minutes before half-time

was his 13th of the season and edged the 37-year-old nearer to the 250-goal milestone in close to 700 appearances.

But the ball should not have reached him in the first place as six-footer Forsyth was beaten in the air to Craig Woodman's cross by the smaller

Matt Oakley. In a tight game, how City paid the price for that momentary lapse in concentration.

Cureton had already cracked the post as Exeter made their positive intentions clear. Alan Gow, playing in the free role behind their front two,

was a constant threat as he picked up the ball from deep and proved very difficult to mark.

Parkinson reacted to City's plodding first-half effort by ditching Forsyth for Alan Connell. The diamond was dusted off once again as the home

side mirrored the Grecians' set-up.

It worked far more effectively and they looked a different side after the break. Picking up the tempo, the crowd came alive and there was a

genuine spark to City's play that had been noticeably absent.

John Egan, who really does look good at centre half, dropped a header wide from a corner and Connell went agonisingly close with a delicate chip.

And City should have had a penalty when Nahki Wells appeared to be clothes-lined by Exeter defender Pat Baldwin. Referee Andy Haines, who

infuriated City from start to finish, glanced at his assistant for confirmation but the flag stayed down.

Parkinson diplomatically declined to comment on the officials beyond pointing out that "you normally get those at home."

James Hanson's long wait to get back on the scoresheet goes on after he put a free header into the Kop. But sub Garry Thompson blew the juiciest

chance late on when his ten-yard volley scuffed wide with the goal beckoning.

"Thommo knows those sort of chances have got to go in," admitted Parkinson. "It was the same with Hanson's header over the bar.

"If there are tired legs, you need one of your goalscorers to bang one into the net and all of a sudden the whole stadium lights up. Then you can

go on to win that game."

To put things in perspective, this was only City's second loss in 11 games – and first since that calamitous afternoon at Burton.

But there is a nagging fear among many fans that all the good work of the first three months could start to unravel because of the strain on

resources.

City did not lose any ground on the top three despite the defeat. With Cheltenham losing at Rotherham, they remain four points off the third

automatic spot.

But the same difference the other way takes them down to 13th as the league table squeezes up once more.


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Early bird season ticket prices same as last season £199 for adults.

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McHugh growing up fast in young Bradford City defence

6:50am Tuesday 20th November 2012

By Simon Parker

City's defensive dilemmas have been well-documented since Luke Oliver and Andrew Davies were wiped from the scene in the same game.

The back four on Saturday was unrecognisable from the one that has formed such a solid unit this season.

With an average age of just over 21, three of that rearguard had totalled only 20 senior starts between them.

With the usual suspects on the sidelines, the door has suddenly swung open for those unsung youngsters.

Carl McHugh, at 19, is the baby of the bunch but he is growing up fast as a professional. The Exeter game was his sixth start and followed hot on

the heels of his first goal to take the Northampton FA Cup clash to penalties.

He said: "I think I've learned more in the games here than in a whole season playing in the reserves at Reading. It's a huge learning curve for

me.

"I still have a lot to improve on and I know there are times when I show a bit of inexperience. Sometimes I'm a bit too eager and need to relax

more but I'm just delighted to get any time on the pitch I can.

"It's been crazy with the injuries and I don't know why it's happened. Maybe it is the price of success and doing so well in the cups.

"At the same time, it's hard to beat that never-say-die attitude we've got within the club. We're going to games thinking that we'll take it down

to the last minute even if we are getting beaten."

McHugh has switched between left back and centre half and returned to full-back duties in James Meredith's absence. But he had a familiar face

playing at his shoulder – McHugh and Sunderland loanee John Egan were team-mates for the Republic of Ireland under-19s.

"It's good to have another Irish lad round the place and I know John from playing together before," said McHugh.

"He's a year older than me but I played up one age so I got called up for a few games in his team.

"And it's nice to have somebody who understands me! Saying that, the Cork accent's a bit different to mine, coming from the top end of the

country."

Phil Parkinson has promised to give the younger end of the squad a chance. While injuries have forced his hand, the City chief has been good to

his word in blooding the likes of McHugh, Scott Brown and Adam Baker.

McHugh said: "The manager and coaching staff have been brilliant with all the younger lads.

"You know if you train well all week, there's always that incentive. Sometimes you could be in a squad of 30 players and train for weeks without

getting anywhere near.

"I've played seven games and three of them have gone to shoot-outs. It's amazing!

"It couldn't have got much later than the Northampton game last week but we just kept going. Even when we were down to ten men, we were stretched

and tired but there was always that belief we could get something."

McHugh's late header ensured another winning penalty climax but he is still not tempted to put his name forward from 12 yards.

"I don't think I'd had the best of games but it was great to get a goal that meant something," he said.

"I've never been so confident afterwards that the lads would do the business from the spot, as we've done this year. I'm happy to leave it to

them."

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From the official BCFC website:

ARSENAL TICKET SALES - PHASE 2

Phase two of the club's Arsenal ticket sales process has now begun,
with City supporters queuing up in the cold and the rain from as early as
before 6:00am this Wednesday morning to get their hands on the remaining
spaces for the Capital One Cup Quarter-Final tie.

After giving solely Season Ticket and FlexiCard holders the opportunity to
purchase tickets for the eagerly-anticipated cup tie for the last week or
so, the club will now allow match-ticket holders from the recent home league
double-header with Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle to buy tickets.

Supporters who purchased Exeter and/or Plymouth match tickets will be able
to purchase the equivalent number of Arsenal tickets - subject to
availability.

For example, two purchased Exeter tickets will give a supporter the
opportunity to purchase two Arsenal tickets, three Plymouth tickets brought
will give a supporter the opportunity to buy three Arsenal tickets.

Any supporter wishing to purchase Arsenal tickets using this method MUST
bring along their Exeter and/or Plymouth stubs as proof of purchase.

Despite the move into phase two of the club's Arsenal ticket sales process,
Season Ticket holders and FlexiCard holders can still purchase tickets for
the tie.

Any ticket sales must now be done in person at the Bantams Ticket Office,
however.

Arsenal tickets can no longer be bought online.

The club would like to inform supporters that only a very limited number of
tickets for the Arsenal match now remain available to purchase. Supporters
are therefore advised to try and purchase any tickets for forthcoming tie as
soon as possible to avoid disappointment.