L2 L0-1 (A) Burton Albion Saturday October 27, 2012. K.O. 3:00PM. #bcafc

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Signings, Loans and Injuries

 Luke Oliver will be out of action for between 6 to 9 months following achilles surgery
 No news yet on how bad Andrew Davies's injury is (knee ).

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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

Burton Albion: Oxley; O'Connor, Stanton, Diamond, McCrory; Taylor (Chappell 74), Weir, Bell, Maghoma; Zola, Kee (Paterson 81). Unused

substitutes: Richards, Lyness, Dyer, Kiernan, Rooney.

Bradford City: McLaughlin; McArdle, Davies (McHugh 46), Oliver (Darby 36), Meredith; Thompson, Doyle, Ravenhill, Forsyth; Connell (G Jones 36),

Hanson. Unused substitutes: R Jones, Duke, Atkinson, Hines.

Referee: Andy D'Urso (Essex).



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When the dust settled - match report


Bradford City see red as ref D'Urso comes under scrutiny

6:40am Monday 29th October 2012

By Simon Parker

Burton 1, City 0

It is 12 years since Andy D'Urso was famously chased by an angry Manchester United posse after daring to award a penalty against them at Old

Trafford.

The sight of a snarling Roy Keane and five team-mates corralling the referee became an iconic image of player power gone mad.

D'Urso was lucky not to come under similar attack from City on Saturday after the incident which swung the match irretrievably against them.

It was the sort of big call that could have ended up with him being cornered by half of West Yorkshire.

D'Urso's decision to banish Ricky Ravenhill for a phantom head butt following a shocking over-reaction by Burton's Lee Bell left the visitors

every bit as angry as Keane and his cohorts that day.

The fact that City managed to last until the final nine minutes before gifting the hosts a self-inflicted goal did nothing to improve the mood

afterwards.

But Phil Parkinson, desperately treading on egg shells with his words, had sensed what might happen when he saw the Billericay official was down

to take charge.

Parkinson clearly felt it was a case of a referee feeling the game was beneath him.

"I've had times with Andy D'Urso before and occasions when Premier League referees come down to this level," he said.

"It's cold, there are only 2,000 people there and the officials weren't communicating at all throughout the game. It's almost as if they didn't

want to be there.

"It's probably difficult for them; a bit like a Premiership player coming down. You've got that feel about the officials. But that's all I want

to say because I don't want to get in trouble."

Parkinson had plenty to say about the way Bell had reacted – or "cheated", in the manager's words – to his contretemps with Ravenhill.

Bell hardly endeared himself later with a daft comment on Twitter, saying: "(I) went down like a girl, very poor from me. But it's been a long

time coming."

Parkinson was equally scathing about home defender Nathan Stanton for gesturing to the large away following once the game had finished. He

declined to shake hands afterwards, instead wagging an angry finger in the centre half's face before reporting what had happened to safety

officials.

Those unsavoury moments left a bad enough taste in the mouth for the manager and City fans. But confirmation that absolutely nothing went their

way came with the injuries to not just one but both centre halves.

If there are two players who have been irreplaceable on Parkinson's team sheet in the past year, it's Luke Oliver and Andrew Davies. City had to

play the second half on Saturday without both – and look like missing them for a fair while yet.

Davies' twisted knee has certainly put the kybosh on his hopes of facing Wigan tomorrow night. If the ligaments have gone, he could be looking at

a month out.

The initial fear with Oliver is that his Achilles injury is worse. Suddenly, in one fell swoop, the two rock-solid foundations of City's back

four have been knocked away.

Halloween may not be until Wednesday but it has come early for Parkinson ten times over. The team bus must have run over a family of black cats

on its way to the Pirelli Stadium.

Carl McHugh was thrust into unexpected action alongside Rory McArdle and did an excellent containing job for 45 minutes. But it will be a huge

ask for the Irish teenager to be pressed into combat as a regular starter until one of the main men is fit to resume.

At the other end of the scale, Parkinson would not have hurried Gary Jones back into the firing line so soon after his back injury. But needs

must with Ravenhill's three-game ban for supposed violent conduct.

So a week that had looked so promising with wins over Cheltenham and Northampton – one the reward for patience and never giving in, the other a

model in away-day discipline – ended with a massive shock to the collective system.

The biggest fear about City's quality over quantity policy with the squad numbers was injuries stacking up all at once. To lose two huge players

– in the same position – is a hammer blow.

The game was no great spectacle. The fact the Bantams got within touching distance of what would have been a memorable point says all you need to

know about the combined attacking capabilities.

City's only shot on target came with a full quota of players, Nathan Doyle's well-struck volley flying straight at Burton loan keeper Mark Oxley.

Otherwise the home debutant spent the rest of the afternoon shivering in the bitter wintry wind.

Jon McLaughlin was not much busier at the other end, even with inferior numbers in front of him for so long.

He made one good block from Zola after Jacques Maghoma's cross-shot came back off the bar. That apart, Burton could not pick their way through

the wall of voltage cherry.

From the moment that Bell and Ravenhill squared up – and Bell fell like he had been downed by a sniper – the contest became one of attack versus

defence.

Alan Connell, who must feel the most jinxed man of the lot at Valley Parade, was sacrificed in the post-Ravenhill reshuffle to leave James Hanson

in a lonely role up top.

With the rest of the team stuck in two rigid banks of four to protect the clean sheet, Hanson was left isolated to run and chase in vain for the

slightest sniff of an opening. He did the job manfully but inevitably it meant little cutting edge.

The question was whether City could follow Rochdale's lead from a month ago and survive intact with a man down for so long.

Burton's frustration seemed to build with every scoreless minute. Without a win from their previous four games, they could see the opportunity

slipping away.

Then City undid all their hard work for them. Thompson delayed fatally as Stanton clipped a ball over the top and McLaughlin got caught in two

minds whether to come for it or not.

Damien McCrory seized on their indecision to get between the pair and drill a pass across the gaping goal. Zola threw himself to bury it and that

was the game done.

Parkinson admitted: "We deserved a point for our efforts. I thought we were terrific with ten men but then conceded a sloppy goal.

"If we'd lost to a bit of skill or a good finish, you'd accept it. But we gave them that goal. One of them has got to take control of the

situation.

"Nothing much more could have gone against us by half-time but the lads worked so hard."

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Parkinson counts cost as whatever can go wrong for Bradford City does in defeat at Burton

8:20am Monday 29th October 2012

By Simon Parker

Phil Parkinson blasted the behaviour of two Burton players as he picked up the pieces from City's contentious weekend loss.

Parkinson labelled midfielder Lee Bell a "cheat" for his reaction in the first-half clash which saw Ricky Ravenhill shown Bradford's first red

card of the season.

And he accused Brewers centre half Nathan Stanton of goading the away fans after the final whistle.

Central defenders Luke Oliver and Andrew Davies were injured in an afternoon to forget for City, who will be missing both players for tomorrow's

daunting Capital One Cup visit to Wigan – and there are fears that Oliver could be sidelined long term.

City's troubles began with Ravenhill's dismissal after Bell collapsed in a heap following their coming together. It provoked a furious response

from Parkinson, who claimed: "He has cheated.

"Their manager might say it's won them the game because we went down to ten men – but in my book, Lee Bell's cheated.

"If there was contact, it certainly wasn't enough to knock him down like that. But he went down as if he'd been headbutted.

"Do we tell our players to roll on the floor every time they get touched? I don't know. But I hope he's embarrassed when he sees it again. He

deserves to be."

Parkinson was equally annoyed with the way Stanton appeared to taunt the City end of the ground. The away fans had been giving him stick after it

was claimed that he gestured at them earlier during the game.

The City chief felt Stanton should have been punished, after Nahki Wells was yellow-carded at Northampton for celebrating his goal with the fans

– a booking which meant he missed Saturday's game.

Parkinson made his feelings known to referee Andy D'Urso and the Burton safety staff about the incident.

He said: "We get Nahki booked for celebrating with our own fans and then you get an opposition player going towards our fans and inciting them.

"If that isn't inciting people to come on to the pitch, I don't know what is. I'm not having that because it's unacceptable."

Calvin Zola's late goal, after some defensive indecision between Jon McLaughlin and Garry Thompson, consigned City to defeat.

Youngster Carl McHugh made his league debut in the second half for Davies and his central partnership with Rory McArdle will now have to face the

Premier League Latics at the DW Stadium.

But Parkinson will have a late check on Gary Jones before deciding whether to risk him from the start. The skipper returned from a five-week

absence to play nearly an hour from the bench on Saturday.

Parkinson said: "Ideally I was going to give him 15 minutes at the end but obviously things changed.

"But we've got to be careful with Gary because he's a key player for us. I don't want to rush him back and we'll see how he is before making a

decision about the Wigan game."
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@bbcleeds sport headlines: #bcafc will not appeal Ricky Ravenhill's sending off in the game against Burton because of a lack of evidence."

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From Wigan Athletic Supporters Club
http://www.wastc.co.uk/2012/10/bobby-campbell-returns/?

BOBBY CAMPBELL TO RETURN FOR WIGAN GAME

Bobby Campbell will be present as Bradford City visit the DW Stadium to try
and knock Wigan Athletic out of this season's Capitol One Cup next Tuesday
and it is reported that over 4,000 Bantams are traveling over from
Yorkshire.

Latics and Bradford City have a history stretching as far back as 1978,
Wigan's first ever year in the Football League but have however only met
once in any Cup and that was in the FA Cup 1st Round where we took our
visitors to a replay before coming out 4-2 winners in 1983.

There is another reason to get down to the Stadium, seeing as one of the
all-time Latics' Legends is making a very rare appearance, not only guest of
honour for the night but also hosting his own room in the hospitality
section, for this night only.

Yes, the infamous Bobby Campbell will be coming down to promote his new book
"Curry and Campbell". This will certainly appeal to a certain age group and
tickets are limited, albeit at £40, but it also includes meal and all the
hospitality trimmings.

---
Campbells 'Legend' Wigan stats
(Coutesy Mike 'Tallgent' Harrison

Campbell was at Wigan for almost 2 seasons having left City in late September 1986.
 
He played 69 games for the Latics and scored 27 goals and he forged a useful partnership up front with a young Paul Jewell.
 
Campbell also helped Wigan get to the 6th round of the F A Cup in 1987 losing to L**s in a quarter final played at Springfield Park. This is

still the furthest Wigan have gone in the F A Cup despite playing in the Premier league since 2005.
 
Paul Firth, author of "They don't make them like him anymore" will be at Wigan tomorrow night with Campbell.


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From bluesqfootball.com:

HANNAH TARGETS MARINERS STAY

Bradford City striker Ross Hannah has confirmed he would like to extend his
stay at Grimsby Town once his loan deal expires.

The 26-year-old joined the Mariners on a three-month loan deal in September
and made an instant impact, scoring on his debut as the Mariners defeated
Luton Town 4-1.

He has since gone on to net two more times in a further five first-team
appearances and says he is loving life under the guidance of joint managers
Rob Scott and Paul Hurst at Blundell Park.

Hannah told the Grimsby Telegraph: "I'm loving every minute here. I've got a
smile on my face all the time.

"The managers and the rest of the lads have been brilliant with me. I feel
like I've been here years.

"I'm really enjoying it, things are going well at the minute and I want to
keep that going."

...

"Whatever happens, happens."

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