Post Game Interview
http://t.co/so2lN6d77Mhttp://t.co/QiSHD0faB0===========================
Final whistle - match report
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Craig Westcarr struck twice as ended Walsall ended a run of 10 games without a victory by securing a 2-0 win over Bradford that keeps alive their slim play-off hopes.
The visitors, who enjoyed more possession in a largely uneventful first half, went in front after 68 minutes when Andrew Taylor's low cross from the left found Westcarr, who just beat the advancing Jon McLaughlin to the ball to poke it into the net.
He then put the result beyond doubt with his second goal in the 78th minute with a shot from the edge of the penalty area, which looped into the net over the head of McLaughlin.
The goal, Westcarr's 14th of the season, came as a result of some neat build-up play on the right by substitutes James Baxendale and James McQuilkin.
Bradford offered little threat in attack, failing to deliver a shot on target, and their best effort was a diving header from defender Andrew Davies, which flashed wide of the post in the 29th minute.
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When the dust settled - match report
Final whistle prompts boos all round for shot-shy Bradford City
6:00am Wednesday 26th March 2014
By Simon Parker
City 0, Walsall 2
It seems a lifetime since Kyel Reid was thrashing City’s goal of the season at the Bescot.
The winger’s spectacular long-range rocket blasted the Bantams into fourth spot in the autumn sunshine – and raised premature hopes that they could follow up one promotion with another.
As we have discovered since, that balmy afternoon was the high spot of the season.
Fast forward five months and Walsall gained their revenge at an unhappy Valley Parade, leaving City still in that League One survival mix.
Referee Keith Stroud last took charge at Wembley, where his final whistle signalled scenes of unbridled joy as promotion was secured.
This time it brought boos all round – at the end of a game when the home side failed to muster a single shot on target. It was that grim.
Walsall, like Shrewsbury on Saturday, had been out of form themselves. This was their first win in 11 games.
There were three City changes from the weekend and the biggest miss – at least until the last half hour – was James Hanson.
Both Walsall goals came after the striker had entered the fray but the Bantams are never the same side without his towering presence.
With the targetman’s back still causing an issue, Andy Gray got his first start at Valley Parade in a year. His only previous one this season was at Wolves – and that was in a hopeless cause after Nathan Doyle’s early dismissal.
There was also a surprise in midfield where Matthew Bates got the nod over Matty Dolan, who had felt ill over the weekend. Gary Jones came back in for the injured Doyle but Phil Parkinson went with the former Middlesbrough man’s experience alongside him.
The holding role was not alien to the defender, who played it regularly in his Premier League days, and Parkinson was looking for his positional discipline to allow Jones to roam.
When Jones and Dolan had partnered each other, Crewe had scored three and with Walsall operating a similar system of playing a deep-lying striker, that may have come into the manager’s thinking – even without Dolan’s sickness.
Bates was only declared fit late on after throwing up during training on Monday. Oliver McBurnie was not so lucky and a sickness bug ruled him out of a squad spot.
There were no such selection issues for Walsall. Nine of their unchanged team had started the first meeting five months earlier.
The visitors fashioned the first threat of the night after ten minutes. Andrew Taylor’s cross was only half-cleared as both City centre halves converged on the same ball.
But Adam Drury threw himself in the way of Adam Chambers’ goal-bound volley and Sam Mantom lashed the rebound high into the Kop.
City’s first attempt was an ambitious drive on the swivel from Aaron Mclean that flew well wide from 25 yards.
Andrew Davies then went close to scoring in a second successive game, meeting Jones’ free-kick with a thumping downward header that bounced past the far post with keeper Richard O’Donnell struggling.
Craig Westcarr found space to test Jon McLaughlin at the other end but his low shot was straight at the keeper.
Excitement was at a premium – the only consolation was that it wasn’t as bitterly cold as Shrewsbury three days earlier.
Rory McArdle almost put McLaughlin in trouble when he left a ball on the edge of the box that the keeper was not expecting. But he managed to recover and slide it away from the marauding Westcarr.
City needed more tempo to their play – at times it had the lethargic air of a pre-season friendly – and Kyle Bennett needed to run with the ball when he had the chance. When he did finally stretch his legs to go at left back Taylor, the cross let him down and was easily swept clear.
The half ended with an overhit Walsall free-kick curling over everyone and into the crowd – it summed up a dour 45 minutes. The few boos that rang out as the whistle sounded showed what the fans thought.
Adam Reach hardly featured at Shrewsbury and had another quiet half in his first game since extending his loan for a final month.
But the Middlesbrough winger briefly lifted the volume with a forceful run to start the second period. He won City’s first corner but, like much of what had gone on before, nothing came of it.
Bennett was making little impression on the other flank and did not do himself any favours when he appeared to back out of a 50/50 tackle in home territory.
His off night soon came to an end when Parkinson opted for Garry Thompson ten minutes in. The substitute had an instant chance to cross but lofted it behind the goal.
City’s second change on the hour created a much bigger buzz as Hanson was unleashed. Gray had not made a dent on the Walsall backline.
Hanson’s arrival kicked up the noise level for a while but still there was no hint of a proper threat on O’Donnell’s goal.
The same could not be said at the Bradford End as Walsall broke the deadlock after 68 minutes.
Taylor fired in a low cross from the left and Westcarr got a thick enough contact to divert it beyond McLaughlin for his 14th goal of the season.
It ended a personal drought that had gone on since the last time the Saddlers won two months ago.
City looked deflated and it needed a good save from McLaughlin to prevent sub James Baxendale making it two with a curler.
But Walsall had their tails up and Westcarr was a whisker away from converting Febian Brandy’s pass.
The Saddlers centre forward was relishing it – and doubled his tally 12 minutes from the end.
James McQuilkin and Baxendale combined to feed Westcarr on the edge of the City penalty area and he cut inside to fire over McLaughlin.
That prompted more frustration in the home stands and City’s frantic attempts to pacify the fans again failed to trouble the Walsall rearguard.
The supporters made their feelings abundantly clear when Stroud finally put everyone out of their misery.
Attendance: 12,165
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Bradford City fans right to have a go, says Parkinson
7:50am Wednesday 26th March 2014
By Simon Parker
Phil Parkinson admitted that City deserved to be booed off after their abject home loss to Walsall.
The Bantams did not have one shot on target in a 2-0 defeat that drags them towards the League One survival scrap.
Fans vented their frustration at the final whistle and Parkinson had no complaints.
He said: “I can’t blame the supporters one bit for booing us off the pitch. We all deserve it, me in particular because I picked the team and set us out how I wanted to play.
“They have backed us so well, so they are more than entitled to get on our backs after that.
“It was as ineffective a performance as I can remember in terms of attempts at goal and crosses.
“I was more disappointed with the lack of reaction to get back in the game when we conceded.
“Our supporters have backed us to the hilt over the last couple of years because we’ll fight tooth and nail if we do go behind. They didn’t see that.”
Craig Westcarr’s second-half double did the damage against a City side without James Hanson, who was sidelined by his ongoing back problem.
With Andy Gray and Aaron Mclean making little headway up front, Hanson came on for the last half hour but also failed to have any impact.
Parkinson said: “I wasn’t even going to put him on the bench but Oli McBurnie was ill. In the end I had to use him to try and give us a lift.
“The front two can give you that by getting a goal out of nothing, chasing a lost cause or sparking us off with a bit of closing down. We didn’t see enough of that in the final third.
“You certainly can’t blame Andy Gray because we’ve thrown him in the deep end. It’s a really tough ask for someone of his age who hasn’t played for a long time.
“It summed up the performance with three minutes to go when we had two chances to put the ball in the box with quality and we came back out.
“That’s not (what you expect from) any team chasing the game – whether you’re top of the Premiership or bottom of the Conference.”
After back-to-back losses and listless performances, Parkinson stressed that City were now very much involved in the dogfight to stay up.
He said: “We’ve got eight games to go and we’re in a real scrap at the bottom of the table. I’ve got to make sure we come through it.
“But we’ll only do that by working together as a team and fighting for each other every step of the way.
“I go back to the Port Vale game when we reminded the lads they were in a scrap. We had to fight for our lives and we did.
“Now I just think since the Colchester and Gillingham games, maybe we’ve started to believe we’re okay. People have started to talk about next season and this and that.
“We’ve got one almighty challenge ahead of us and we have to meet it head on.”
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City’s under-18s have been crowned north-east champions of the Youth Alliance.
A 0-0 draw with second-placed Doncaster yesterday and Scunthorpe’s loss to Notts County meant the young Bantams cannot be caught.
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ON THIS DAY – PAUL SCHOLES WONDER VOLLEY AT VP
By Liam Apicella, Features Editor
http://www.sportsmole.co.ukVideo link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L6BZbvTqMvwIt's widely accepted that English football has produced few players that
were able to strike a football cleaner than Paul Scholes.
The midfielder scored a host of goals during his 20-year association
with Manchester United, but arguably none were more memorable than the one
that he fired in at Valley Parade during a match against Bradford City 14
years ago today.
Having soaked up some early pressure from the home side, league leaders
United took a 2-0 advantage into the break courtesy of Dwight Yorke. The
Trinidad & Tobago international first headed in a cross from the right
by David Beckham, before an intended cross of his own drifted over Bradford
goalkeeper Matt Clarke and into the net.
Both teams created chances after the restart, but the outcome was put beyond
any doubt in the 71st minute as the famously shy Scholes took centre stage.
From a corner on the left, Beckham spotted his flame-haired teammate lurking
around 25 yards from goal. So, instead of sending a hopeful ball into the
area, Beckham decided to pick out Scholes with a drilled pass. After that,
it was all about the United midfielder, who rearranged his body just in time
to volley an unstoppable effort into the bottom corner of Clarke's goal.
Beckham then turned scorer eight minutes later when he scored from the edge
of the area following good work by Ryan Giggs, but it was Scholes that had
claimed the headlines.
Speaking about that goal in an interview with FourFourTwo in 2011, the now
39-year-old said: "We never worked on it in training. Becks just took the
corner, I gave him a little look to let him know I was there, he delivered
it to where I wanted and I volleyed it in. We were on the same wavelength."
However, although many might disagree with him, Scholes does not believe
that it was the best goal of his career, adding: "I'm not sure that's my
best goal, though. My best is probably the one at Aston Villa when I
volleyed it again from outside the area. That was more difficult."
BRADFORD: Clarke; Wetherall, O'Brien, Halle, Jacobs; McCall, Beagrie,
Lawrence; Windass, Saunders, Cadete
MAN UNITED: Bosnich; G Neville, Berg, Silvestre, P Neville; Beckham, Keane
(Wallwork), Scholes, Giggs (Solskjaer); Cole, Yorke
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