Read this article online
http://texasbantam.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/46810838356/
===========================
Next Game
Signings, Loans and Injuries
Davies has had an injection (to deal with his calf and back problem), so we'll have to wait and see.
McArdle - suspended v Doncaster
Injuries
===========================
Preview
Game links
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11559531.FT__Oldham_2_City_1/
http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/gamecast?gameId=393935&action=stats
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/sport_bantams_pics2012/sport_bantams_pics2014_oldhamaway/
Highlight/ Goals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tgFTl-2Eaw
Post Game Interview
===========================
Final whistle - match report
Parkinson fuming with "second best" Bantams
5:58pm Saturday 25th October 2014
By Simon Parker
PHIL Parkinson was furious with City's first-half flop after they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Oldham today.
The Bantams never recovered from conceding twice in the first 20 minutes. Andy Halliday pulled one back right on half-time but Rory McArdle's late sending-off put the cap on a miserable day at Boundary Park.
Parkinson fumed : "We were physically second best all over the pitch in the first half.
"We'd spoken about the intensity of their starts and how Coventry had been caught cold by that (on Tuesday).
"We had to make sure we didn't let that happen to us and we had to be physically ready. But too many players came up second best.
"I've got to look at myself and I assure the supporters I always do that.
"The lads have gone out and done exactly the opposite to what we've asked them to do. Physically Oldham were ready for it and we weren't."
===========================
When the dust settled - match report
Bradford City battered after failing to heed warning about Oldham
6:30am Monday 27th October 2014
By Simon Parker
Oldham 2, City 1
THE pause lasted no more than five or six seconds but it felt like time had stood still.
Phil Parkinson tried to articulate his verdict with the utmost care as he gazed across an empty Boundary Park.
The gap between the first few sentences betrayed a struggle to find the right words to keep his obvious fury in check. The burning eyes vividly illustrated the rage within.
There had been no such holding back from the City boss when he'd laid into his team in the dressing room. The message ringing in their ear drums could not have been clearer.
Parkinson's anger was stoked by a feeling that his pre-match briefing to those same players had gone unheeded. Everything he had warned them about with Oldham had gone in one ear and out of the other.
That was what really got the manager mad.
He had spelled out the danger of Oldham's fast start and how they had blown Coventry away by roaring out of the blocks in the previous home game. Don't be caught napping, was page one of the game plan.
There were also a few morale-boosting clips of City's efforts at Ashton Gate to show they were more than capable of matching and containing the division's top dogs.
His team then went out and produced a wretched 45 minutes that flew in the face of everything that Parkinson had preached.
I am struggling to remember another half during Parkinson's three-year reign when City have been so comprehensively outplayed.
The second half at Barnsley a fortnight ago was pretty poor – but this seemed worse.
It was incredible that when David Coote's half-time whistle brought some much needed relief – though not from the ear-bashing they were about to receive – City trailed in only a goal in arrears.
If it had been a boxing match, to use that hoary old cliché, the referee would surely have waved it off after just 20 minutes.
By that point, the Bantams were battered and bloodied and offering little resistance. They looked unable to raise a guard against the movement and accuracy of the rampant hosts.
Poor Christopher Routis bore the brunt of the barrage. He has been a shining light for City so far since emerging from nowhere among an army of pre-season trialists at Ossett Town.
His confidence and timing on the ball, combined with his banter and 'interesting' use of English on Twitter, is fast earning him cult status with supporters.
But Saturday was an awakening of the scariest variety as his Halloween came a week early in the shape of Oldham hitmen Jonathan Forte and Jabo Ibehre.
From the opening move of the match, when Forte effortlessly brushed Routis aside inside the penalty area, they seemed to strike terror at the heart of the back four with each attack.
Parkinson rescued Routis from his nightmare before half-time – but the damage had already been done.
That early foray was at least extinguished by Rory McArdle, who – for the most part – tried to stand his ground when others were losing theirs.
But his rush of blood in the closing stages when he pulled back Ibehre for the second time in a manner of minutes proved just as costly as any mistakes leading to goals.
McArdle's red card poses the biggest problem of City's three to date because of the uncertainty surrounding Andrew Davies and his ongoing calf issue. No wonder Parkinson refused to offer any sympathy for the defender, as he had done with Stephen Darby the week before.
Oldham, who last tasted defeat so long ago that Dave Hockaday was still the boss at Leeds, needed only seven minutes to convert their early superiority into a first goal.
Matthew Mills crossed deep, Ibehre beat Routis far too easily and Forte swivelled off McArdle to hook in his 11th goal of the season.
Bristol City had opened the scoring at about the same time on Tuesday and the Bantams had responded magnificently. No such luck this time.
The clamour for City to stick with wingers again had grown after that display. But Parkinson could not coax a repeat from his players – "second best all over" was his accurate assessment of a shadow-chasing half.
By the time he reverted back to a diamond in midfield to match the home side, City were two adrift and fortunate not to be more.
The second goal came from Mike Jones with a 20-yard drive inside the near post. Jordan Pickford did not appear to see it until late and a deflection off McArdle left the keeper wrong-footed.
City were being pulled around and dragged about at will. Oldham's football under their highly-rated young manager Lee Johnson is good to watch but it made for agonising viewing for the 1,500 or so travelling fans behind that goal.
They nearly witnessed a third as Forte and Ibehre combined to more deadly effect before the on-loan Colchester man saw his close-range prod deflected just the wrong side of the post by Alan Sheehan.
With Routis off, City settled a bit and James Meredith did provide a bit of oomph going forward from left back. But their goal – which nobody saw coming – was created from the other side through Mark Yeates.
James Hanson won the header and Andy Halliday smartly finished the first goal of his short-term stay. City had an unlikely lifeline.
Let's be fair, they nearly took it in a far more balanced second half. With a bit more bite in front of goal, the Bantams could well have snatched a point.
Sheehan stung Paul Rachubka's hands with a trademark pile-driver but there were other even more promising chances that just needed somebody to take command.
Substitute Billy Clarke twice, Yeates and Gary Liddle all could have done better when opportunities presented themselves around the box. For a team in such complete control earlier, Oldham were relieved to hear that final whistle.
It would be stretching it to say that City's overall display would have warranted anything.
But the fact they were still in with a sniff right up to the moment Pickford tried to get on the end of a stoppage-time corner just illustrated how costly that opening half hour had been.
You did not need the manager to spell that out.
Attendance: 5,832
===========================
FA CUP 1st Round Draw
FC Halifax v Bradford City
It will be the first time City have played non-league opposition in the FA Cup since 1995 when they beat Burton Albion 4-3 at Valley Parade.
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11564749.Get_it_on_the_box__Halifax_manager_cannot_wait_to_lock_horns_with_Bantams_in_one_of_ties_of_the_FA_Cup_first_round/
===========================
http://texasbantam.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/46810838356/
===========================
Next Game
Signings, Loans and Injuries
Davies has had an injection (to deal with his calf and back problem), so we'll have to wait and see.
McArdle - suspended v Doncaster
Injuries
===========================
Preview
Game links
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11559531.FT__Oldham_2_City_1/
http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/gamecast?gameId=393935&action=stats
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/sport_bantams_pics2012/sport_bantams_pics2014_oldhamaway/
Highlight/ Goals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tgFTl-2Eaw
Post Game Interview
===========================
Final whistle - match report
Parkinson fuming with "second best" Bantams
5:58pm Saturday 25th October 2014
By Simon Parker
PHIL Parkinson was furious with City's first-half flop after they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Oldham today.
The Bantams never recovered from conceding twice in the first 20 minutes. Andy Halliday pulled one back right on half-time but Rory McArdle's late sending-off put the cap on a miserable day at Boundary Park.
Parkinson fumed : "We were physically second best all over the pitch in the first half.
"We'd spoken about the intensity of their starts and how Coventry had been caught cold by that (on Tuesday).
"We had to make sure we didn't let that happen to us and we had to be physically ready. But too many players came up second best.
"I've got to look at myself and I assure the supporters I always do that.
"The lads have gone out and done exactly the opposite to what we've asked them to do. Physically Oldham were ready for it and we weren't."
===========================
When the dust settled - match report
Bradford City battered after failing to heed warning about Oldham
6:30am Monday 27th October 2014
By Simon Parker
Oldham 2, City 1
THE pause lasted no more than five or six seconds but it felt like time had stood still.
Phil Parkinson tried to articulate his verdict with the utmost care as he gazed across an empty Boundary Park.
The gap between the first few sentences betrayed a struggle to find the right words to keep his obvious fury in check. The burning eyes vividly illustrated the rage within.
There had been no such holding back from the City boss when he'd laid into his team in the dressing room. The message ringing in their ear drums could not have been clearer.
Parkinson's anger was stoked by a feeling that his pre-match briefing to those same players had gone unheeded. Everything he had warned them about with Oldham had gone in one ear and out of the other.
That was what really got the manager mad.
He had spelled out the danger of Oldham's fast start and how they had blown Coventry away by roaring out of the blocks in the previous home game. Don't be caught napping, was page one of the game plan.
There were also a few morale-boosting clips of City's efforts at Ashton Gate to show they were more than capable of matching and containing the division's top dogs.
His team then went out and produced a wretched 45 minutes that flew in the face of everything that Parkinson had preached.
I am struggling to remember another half during Parkinson's three-year reign when City have been so comprehensively outplayed.
The second half at Barnsley a fortnight ago was pretty poor – but this seemed worse.
It was incredible that when David Coote's half-time whistle brought some much needed relief – though not from the ear-bashing they were about to receive – City trailed in only a goal in arrears.
If it had been a boxing match, to use that hoary old cliché, the referee would surely have waved it off after just 20 minutes.
By that point, the Bantams were battered and bloodied and offering little resistance. They looked unable to raise a guard against the movement and accuracy of the rampant hosts.
Poor Christopher Routis bore the brunt of the barrage. He has been a shining light for City so far since emerging from nowhere among an army of pre-season trialists at Ossett Town.
His confidence and timing on the ball, combined with his banter and 'interesting' use of English on Twitter, is fast earning him cult status with supporters.
But Saturday was an awakening of the scariest variety as his Halloween came a week early in the shape of Oldham hitmen Jonathan Forte and Jabo Ibehre.
From the opening move of the match, when Forte effortlessly brushed Routis aside inside the penalty area, they seemed to strike terror at the heart of the back four with each attack.
Parkinson rescued Routis from his nightmare before half-time – but the damage had already been done.
That early foray was at least extinguished by Rory McArdle, who – for the most part – tried to stand his ground when others were losing theirs.
But his rush of blood in the closing stages when he pulled back Ibehre for the second time in a manner of minutes proved just as costly as any mistakes leading to goals.
McArdle's red card poses the biggest problem of City's three to date because of the uncertainty surrounding Andrew Davies and his ongoing calf issue. No wonder Parkinson refused to offer any sympathy for the defender, as he had done with Stephen Darby the week before.
Oldham, who last tasted defeat so long ago that Dave Hockaday was still the boss at Leeds, needed only seven minutes to convert their early superiority into a first goal.
Matthew Mills crossed deep, Ibehre beat Routis far too easily and Forte swivelled off McArdle to hook in his 11th goal of the season.
Bristol City had opened the scoring at about the same time on Tuesday and the Bantams had responded magnificently. No such luck this time.
The clamour for City to stick with wingers again had grown after that display. But Parkinson could not coax a repeat from his players – "second best all over" was his accurate assessment of a shadow-chasing half.
By the time he reverted back to a diamond in midfield to match the home side, City were two adrift and fortunate not to be more.
The second goal came from Mike Jones with a 20-yard drive inside the near post. Jordan Pickford did not appear to see it until late and a deflection off McArdle left the keeper wrong-footed.
City were being pulled around and dragged about at will. Oldham's football under their highly-rated young manager Lee Johnson is good to watch but it made for agonising viewing for the 1,500 or so travelling fans behind that goal.
They nearly witnessed a third as Forte and Ibehre combined to more deadly effect before the on-loan Colchester man saw his close-range prod deflected just the wrong side of the post by Alan Sheehan.
With Routis off, City settled a bit and James Meredith did provide a bit of oomph going forward from left back. But their goal – which nobody saw coming – was created from the other side through Mark Yeates.
James Hanson won the header and Andy Halliday smartly finished the first goal of his short-term stay. City had an unlikely lifeline.
Let's be fair, they nearly took it in a far more balanced second half. With a bit more bite in front of goal, the Bantams could well have snatched a point.
Sheehan stung Paul Rachubka's hands with a trademark pile-driver but there were other even more promising chances that just needed somebody to take command.
Substitute Billy Clarke twice, Yeates and Gary Liddle all could have done better when opportunities presented themselves around the box. For a team in such complete control earlier, Oldham were relieved to hear that final whistle.
It would be stretching it to say that City's overall display would have warranted anything.
But the fact they were still in with a sniff right up to the moment Pickford tried to get on the end of a stoppage-time corner just illustrated how costly that opening half hour had been.
You did not need the manager to spell that out.
Attendance: 5,832
===========================
FA CUP 1st Round Draw
FC Halifax v Bradford City
It will be the first time City have played non-league opposition in the FA Cup since 1995 when they beat Burton Albion 4-3 at Valley Parade.
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11564749.Get_it_on_the_box__Halifax_manager_cannot_wait_to_lock_horns_with_Bantams_in_one_of_ties_of_the_FA_Cup_first_round/
===========================
