Read this article online
http://texasbantam.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/46810838356/
===========================
Next/Upcoming Game
Chesterfield has now been confirmed for Tuesday 31 March 2015.
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11850874.Bradford_City_boss__Let_s_make_Notts_Count_cost_for_not_movi
ng_game/
Signings & Loans
Carlisle United sign midfielder Jason Kennedy from Bradford City on a one-month loan deal
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31854091
Bradford City sign Newcastle United goalkeeper Jak Alnwick on loan until the end of the season
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31872777
Injuries & Suspensions
===========================
Preview
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31704599
Game links
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11846187.FT__Coventry_1_City_1/
http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/gamecast?gameId=414229&action=stats
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11849405.Coventry_v_Bantams_picture_gallery_and_match_highlights/
Highlight/ Goals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VtJfQNYBQs
Post Game Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qgTcPvrbJE
===========================
Final whistle - match report
Bantams boss Parkinson happy to grind out point on Ricoh 'rugby pitch'
7:20am Wednesday 11th March 2015
By Simon Parker
PHIL Parkinson has urged City to keep grinding out results after they hit back to take a point at Coventry.
A superb free-kick from Mark Yeates sealed a 1-1 draw at the Ricoh Arena to move the Bantams up a place to ninth.
Parkinson was critical of the Coventry pitch, which had staged a Wasps rugby union game two days earlier, and felt his side
had shown battling qualities to take a point.
He said: "It was important we got something. We came for all three points but you've just got to keep grinding out results.
"It's going to be like that with the way the pitches are at this stage.
"Nobody wants to know at the end of the season about how tough it was if you're beaten. It's get something. You don't want
to listen to sob stories about the pitches. Brendan Rogers is moaning about the pitch at Liverpool; everybody is.
"It was a very strange surface to play football on. They played rugby on it on Sunday and it looked as if nothing at all
had been done on it since.
"I'd never seen anything like it. I said to Steve (Parkin) after about ten minutes 'is that ball the right shape?'
"The lads were complaining but the ref didn't do anything about it, which didn't surprise me because he probably didn't
notice. But the pitch was so lively for both teams."
Coventry, who are fighting relegation, had taken the lead just before half-time. But Parkinson was angry that referee Gary
Sutton changed his mind after appearing to give a foul on Billy Clarke.
He added: "The ref made a bizarre mistake. Yes, they still had a lot to do but he gave us a free-kick, then changed his
mind for a throw and the ball ends up in the back of our net ten seconds later.
"It took us a while to adapt to the pitch. I thought we did all right until ten minutes before half-time when we started to
become second best a little bit.
"But the second half was brilliant. I told the lads at half-time they had to take more care with their touch on the ball
and some of the football we played after that was great.
"There was only one team going to win the game in the second half."
Yeates levelled with his fifth goal of the season – after City were complaining that the ref should have played on when
Andy Halliday was fouled.
Parkinson added: "We all moaned when the ref blew but you can't have it both ways and it was a magnificent free-kick. It
was about time he got one of those."
Andrew Davies has handed City an FA Cup scare after banging the same part of the arm that he broke at the start of the
season. He was taken off at half-time.
But Parkinson was happy to see Filipe Morais come through his second game in four days unscathed.
"Morais and Hanson are getting their rhythm back in games. Normally you give those players training time before they play.
"But we've had to throw Fil back in and it's a great credit to his professionalism.
"He trained 25 minutes on Thursday, another hour on Friday and has now played two games in four days. You can see he is
coming back into it."
===========================
When the dust settled - match report
Yeates sparks Bantams revival and kick-starts his own personal comeback in the process
6:50am Wednesday 11th March 2015
By Simon Parker
Coventry City 1 Bradford City 1
MARK Yeates may have scored the pick of the bunch from City's awesome foursome at Chelsea but it's generally been a
frustrating 2015 for him so far.
A key figure in the first half of the season, the creative midfielder has been reduced to a bit-part role since a Boxing
Day injury at Fleetwood.
But things might be looking up for him again after a game-changing performance from the bench last night.
Yeates earned a point with a thundering free-kick and looked much more like the attacking threat of a couple of months ago.
City too were more like their old selves after a poor first-half performance had given the struggling Sky Blues hope of a
rare home win in front of one of the Ricoh's lowest crowds.
Maybe it was an FA Cup hangover but the Bantams got it out of their system – and possibly should have turned one point into
three.
More than 27,000 saw Coventry's "homecoming" win over Gillingham in September but there was less than a third of that in a
stadium fit for Premier League football.
Not surprising, really, considering that they have won only once in ten home games.
Coventry had introduced a "two for one" ticket offer for the original date of the game on Valentine's Day. But there was
little romance for a rearranged Tuesday night and there was no sizeable difference in the attendance.
Safe to say, Take That's ground record of playing to 150,000 people over three days wasn't going to be under threat.
It was a stark contrast for City after a jam-packed Valley Parade at the weekend but Phil Parkinson kept with the spirit of
that performance by naming nine of the same starters.
Any thoughts of another reshuffle of the ranks were no doubt kept for Notts County on Saturday.
The only changes saw Francois Zoko, the match-winner against Crawley the previous Tuesday, replacing Jon Stead and Andy
Halliday returning in midfield for Billy Knott.
They were greeted with another pitch with its problems – the regular presence of stadium owners Wasps, who played there
against Saracens on Sunday, ensured a rutted surface which came away in patches.
The indifferent surface did not stop both sides creating – and spurning – decent scoring chances in the opening minutes.
The first fell to City in the third minute as James Meredith's low cross was missed by Billy Clarke but James Hanson was
right behind him to sky over the bar from eight yards out.
Then it was Coventry's turn to waste an opening as Marcus Tudgay picked out Frank Nouble close in on goal but he screwed
his shot past the near post.
There was another close scrape for City after 17 minutes when Aaron Martin beat Ben Williams to an in-swinging cross from
Coventry skipper Jim O'Brien. The sparsely-populated ground held its collective breath as the header looped on top of the
net and not into it.
It was a scrappy contest with mistakes at both ends – not helped by a bounce like a basketball court in certain places. But
Clarke produced a flicker of skill to open up Coventry for Filipe Morais to try a first-time shot that Martin blocked in
front of his goal.
Coventry were starting to clock up the attempts without managing one on target. Sanmi Odelusi summed up the lack of overall
quality with one wild slice before planting another header over from Phillips's deflected cross.
They wasted another gilt-edged opportunity before finally turning the growing pressure into a breakthrough goal just before
the break.
City could have paid the price when Nouble's cross was nodded back into the mix by Phillips and Marcus Tudgay wastefully
headed wide.
But their relief was short-lived. From Coventry's next attack, Phillips found room wide on the right to drill in a low
cross which Nouble slid in at the far post.
City could maybe point to a foul on Clarke in the build-up but the failure to close Coventry down from that point cost them
dear.
The performance had got progressively worse as the first half wore on – and some of the travelling fans vented their
frustration by booing when the whistle sounded.
Parkinson made two changes at the break, Alan Sheehan replacing Andrew Davies and Yeates coming on for Zoko. That meant
Clarke pushed up to play alongside Hanson.
Yeates soon had City's first shot on target with a tame drive from a half-cleared corner. But at least it did force keeper
Lee Burge into action.
There was far more life to the visitors, who had no doubt received some stern words during the break, although Morais
shanked his shot on the run so badly that it went out for a throw-in.
Coventry had used all their subs by the hour point, with the new arrivals including German striker Nick Proschwitz – who
had once cost Hull a cool £2.6 million.
Yeates looked the man most likely to unlock the home side and warmed Burge's hands with a well-struck drive from 20 yards.
Then Clarke worked a long pass from Rory McArdle towards Morais, whose left-foot effort was a lot closer than his previous
attempt.
Referee Gary Sutton frustrated City by halting play for a foul on the hard-working Halliday inside the Coventry D just as
Yeates picked up possession in a dangerous spot.
But the Irishman made the most of the free-kick by bending it around the wall and into the corner of Burge's net. Yeates
raced towards the City fans to celebrate and kicked an advertising board, smashing it in the process and getting a yellow
card for his troubles.
City had the bit between their teeth – but were thanking their lucky stars as Coventry wasted a glorious chance to restore
the lead.
A low cross from Chris Stokes was miskicked by Sheehan straight to Proschwitz – who somehow fired wide with the goal
gaping.
But it was City who finished on the front foot and Hanson was denied a late winner when his downward header from Clarke's
cross was well held by Burge.
===========================
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11846115.Calls_for_Bradford_City_s_cup_replay_to_be_shown_on_Centenar
y_Square_s_big_screen/
===========================
http://texasbantam.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/46810838356/
===========================
Next/Upcoming Game
Chesterfield has now been confirmed for Tuesday 31 March 2015.
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11850874.Bradford_City_boss__Let_s_make_Notts_Count_cost_for_not_movi
ng_game/
Signings & Loans
Carlisle United sign midfielder Jason Kennedy from Bradford City on a one-month loan deal
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31854091
Bradford City sign Newcastle United goalkeeper Jak Alnwick on loan until the end of the season
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31872777
Injuries & Suspensions
===========================
Preview
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31704599
Game links
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11846187.FT__Coventry_1_City_1/
http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/gamecast?gameId=414229&action=stats
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11849405.Coventry_v_Bantams_picture_gallery_and_match_highlights/
Highlight/ Goals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VtJfQNYBQs
Post Game Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qgTcPvrbJE
===========================
Final whistle - match report
Bantams boss Parkinson happy to grind out point on Ricoh 'rugby pitch'
7:20am Wednesday 11th March 2015
By Simon Parker
PHIL Parkinson has urged City to keep grinding out results after they hit back to take a point at Coventry.
A superb free-kick from Mark Yeates sealed a 1-1 draw at the Ricoh Arena to move the Bantams up a place to ninth.
Parkinson was critical of the Coventry pitch, which had staged a Wasps rugby union game two days earlier, and felt his side
had shown battling qualities to take a point.
He said: "It was important we got something. We came for all three points but you've just got to keep grinding out results.
"It's going to be like that with the way the pitches are at this stage.
"Nobody wants to know at the end of the season about how tough it was if you're beaten. It's get something. You don't want
to listen to sob stories about the pitches. Brendan Rogers is moaning about the pitch at Liverpool; everybody is.
"It was a very strange surface to play football on. They played rugby on it on Sunday and it looked as if nothing at all
had been done on it since.
"I'd never seen anything like it. I said to Steve (Parkin) after about ten minutes 'is that ball the right shape?'
"The lads were complaining but the ref didn't do anything about it, which didn't surprise me because he probably didn't
notice. But the pitch was so lively for both teams."
Coventry, who are fighting relegation, had taken the lead just before half-time. But Parkinson was angry that referee Gary
Sutton changed his mind after appearing to give a foul on Billy Clarke.
He added: "The ref made a bizarre mistake. Yes, they still had a lot to do but he gave us a free-kick, then changed his
mind for a throw and the ball ends up in the back of our net ten seconds later.
"It took us a while to adapt to the pitch. I thought we did all right until ten minutes before half-time when we started to
become second best a little bit.
"But the second half was brilliant. I told the lads at half-time they had to take more care with their touch on the ball
and some of the football we played after that was great.
"There was only one team going to win the game in the second half."
Yeates levelled with his fifth goal of the season – after City were complaining that the ref should have played on when
Andy Halliday was fouled.
Parkinson added: "We all moaned when the ref blew but you can't have it both ways and it was a magnificent free-kick. It
was about time he got one of those."
Andrew Davies has handed City an FA Cup scare after banging the same part of the arm that he broke at the start of the
season. He was taken off at half-time.
But Parkinson was happy to see Filipe Morais come through his second game in four days unscathed.
"Morais and Hanson are getting their rhythm back in games. Normally you give those players training time before they play.
"But we've had to throw Fil back in and it's a great credit to his professionalism.
"He trained 25 minutes on Thursday, another hour on Friday and has now played two games in four days. You can see he is
coming back into it."
===========================
When the dust settled - match report
Yeates sparks Bantams revival and kick-starts his own personal comeback in the process
6:50am Wednesday 11th March 2015
By Simon Parker
Coventry City 1 Bradford City 1
MARK Yeates may have scored the pick of the bunch from City's awesome foursome at Chelsea but it's generally been a
frustrating 2015 for him so far.
A key figure in the first half of the season, the creative midfielder has been reduced to a bit-part role since a Boxing
Day injury at Fleetwood.
But things might be looking up for him again after a game-changing performance from the bench last night.
Yeates earned a point with a thundering free-kick and looked much more like the attacking threat of a couple of months ago.
City too were more like their old selves after a poor first-half performance had given the struggling Sky Blues hope of a
rare home win in front of one of the Ricoh's lowest crowds.
Maybe it was an FA Cup hangover but the Bantams got it out of their system – and possibly should have turned one point into
three.
More than 27,000 saw Coventry's "homecoming" win over Gillingham in September but there was less than a third of that in a
stadium fit for Premier League football.
Not surprising, really, considering that they have won only once in ten home games.
Coventry had introduced a "two for one" ticket offer for the original date of the game on Valentine's Day. But there was
little romance for a rearranged Tuesday night and there was no sizeable difference in the attendance.
Safe to say, Take That's ground record of playing to 150,000 people over three days wasn't going to be under threat.
It was a stark contrast for City after a jam-packed Valley Parade at the weekend but Phil Parkinson kept with the spirit of
that performance by naming nine of the same starters.
Any thoughts of another reshuffle of the ranks were no doubt kept for Notts County on Saturday.
The only changes saw Francois Zoko, the match-winner against Crawley the previous Tuesday, replacing Jon Stead and Andy
Halliday returning in midfield for Billy Knott.
They were greeted with another pitch with its problems – the regular presence of stadium owners Wasps, who played there
against Saracens on Sunday, ensured a rutted surface which came away in patches.
The indifferent surface did not stop both sides creating – and spurning – decent scoring chances in the opening minutes.
The first fell to City in the third minute as James Meredith's low cross was missed by Billy Clarke but James Hanson was
right behind him to sky over the bar from eight yards out.
Then it was Coventry's turn to waste an opening as Marcus Tudgay picked out Frank Nouble close in on goal but he screwed
his shot past the near post.
There was another close scrape for City after 17 minutes when Aaron Martin beat Ben Williams to an in-swinging cross from
Coventry skipper Jim O'Brien. The sparsely-populated ground held its collective breath as the header looped on top of the
net and not into it.
It was a scrappy contest with mistakes at both ends – not helped by a bounce like a basketball court in certain places. But
Clarke produced a flicker of skill to open up Coventry for Filipe Morais to try a first-time shot that Martin blocked in
front of his goal.
Coventry were starting to clock up the attempts without managing one on target. Sanmi Odelusi summed up the lack of overall
quality with one wild slice before planting another header over from Phillips's deflected cross.
They wasted another gilt-edged opportunity before finally turning the growing pressure into a breakthrough goal just before
the break.
City could have paid the price when Nouble's cross was nodded back into the mix by Phillips and Marcus Tudgay wastefully
headed wide.
But their relief was short-lived. From Coventry's next attack, Phillips found room wide on the right to drill in a low
cross which Nouble slid in at the far post.
City could maybe point to a foul on Clarke in the build-up but the failure to close Coventry down from that point cost them
dear.
The performance had got progressively worse as the first half wore on – and some of the travelling fans vented their
frustration by booing when the whistle sounded.
Parkinson made two changes at the break, Alan Sheehan replacing Andrew Davies and Yeates coming on for Zoko. That meant
Clarke pushed up to play alongside Hanson.
Yeates soon had City's first shot on target with a tame drive from a half-cleared corner. But at least it did force keeper
Lee Burge into action.
There was far more life to the visitors, who had no doubt received some stern words during the break, although Morais
shanked his shot on the run so badly that it went out for a throw-in.
Coventry had used all their subs by the hour point, with the new arrivals including German striker Nick Proschwitz – who
had once cost Hull a cool £2.6 million.
Yeates looked the man most likely to unlock the home side and warmed Burge's hands with a well-struck drive from 20 yards.
Then Clarke worked a long pass from Rory McArdle towards Morais, whose left-foot effort was a lot closer than his previous
attempt.
Referee Gary Sutton frustrated City by halting play for a foul on the hard-working Halliday inside the Coventry D just as
Yeates picked up possession in a dangerous spot.
But the Irishman made the most of the free-kick by bending it around the wall and into the corner of Burge's net. Yeates
raced towards the City fans to celebrate and kicked an advertising board, smashing it in the process and getting a yellow
card for his troubles.
City had the bit between their teeth – but were thanking their lucky stars as Coventry wasted a glorious chance to restore
the lead.
A low cross from Chris Stokes was miskicked by Sheehan straight to Proschwitz – who somehow fired wide with the goal
gaping.
But it was City who finished on the front foot and Hanson was denied a late winner when his downward header from Clarke's
cross was well held by Burge.
===========================
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11846115.Calls_for_Bradford_City_s_cup_replay_to_be_shown_on_Centenar
y_Square_s_big_screen/
===========================
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