As I walked up Clarence Road at 2pm I thought something’s not right here, no buses,
not a single one, not even a team coach, so we popped into the club shop and after
finding our the season ticket books still weren’t available we headed off towards
the Town End, at 2:17pm the Bradford City team bus rolled up outside the Cyril
Knowles stand, champion the last time a team turned up this late will have been
Barnet a few season’s ago, that night we ran riot and won 6-1 with Tommy Miller
scoring a hat trick, the afternoon didn’t pan out as I expected!
Martin Scott named all four (five if you count Thomas Butler) of his summer
signings in the starting eleven as Pools lined up 4-4-2 with Ritchie Humphreys
at left back and Darren Williams at right back, Micky Nelson and Ben Clark completed
the back four. In midfield Chris Llewellyn started on the right, Thomas Butler
on the left, Lee Bullock and Tony Sweeney in the middle. Up front Michael Proctor
partnered Adam Boyd.
The Bradford team didn’t come out onto the pitch until 2:35pm and the game
kicked off a little late at 3:05pm after the four ‘new boys’ were all given
an excellent reception from the Pools fans in the ground. One last thing to
mention before I get to the gory details, it was nice to see Steve Agnew spending
5 minutes in the warm up with the strikers actually putting balls into the back
of the net. It seems like an obvious thing to do but I don’t think I’ve ever
seen a team spending time on hitting the target.
Anyway down to the goals, last season Dean Windass finished
as top scorer in league one, it didn’t take him long to open his account for
the new season. With just 8 minutes on the clock Marc Bridge-Wilkinson floated
in a cross from the right wing, Windass got up high between Micky Nelson and
Ben Clark and simply steered the ball past Konstantopolous for the games opening
goal. There was a lot of discussion during the week about the merits of playing
Ritchie Humphreys at left back, although the cross for the Windass goal did
came from Humphreys wing, I don’t think there was anything he could have do
to prevent it.
Thomas Butler looked lively on the right but the worrying thing was the lack
of control in the middle of the park, Pools spent most of the first half playing
the ball out to either wing, perhaps because the central midfield was a bit
crowded, on one occasion Butler came inside and headed goal wards, after skipping
past two defenders he was felled just outside the area, nothing came of the
resulting free kick though.
The second half started and Pools went straight on the attack, Tony Sweeney
hit a powerful drive which looked to be flying into the back of the net, however
a Bradford defender was in the way and took the ball full in his stomach, ouch!
Ritchie Humphreys saw a low free kick bundled behind by the huge frame of Ricketts
in the Bradford goal as Pools early second half pressure continued. However
our good start to the second period was abruptly brought to an end in the 55th
minute, Dean Windass lead a counter attack up the field, he swung the ball over
to Bobby Petta who evaded two weak challenges before sticking
it past Konstantopolous and into the far corner of the net.
Understandably Bradford looked pretty pleased with their afternoon’s work so
far, it came as no surprise that they seemed happy to let Pools try and break
down their strong defence. Adam Boyd twisted and turned but couldn’t get either
a killer ball into the box or a shot on target. Michael Proctor show glimpses
of talent and a real turn of pace but he was getting little support from Boyd
who was trying to walk the ball into the back of the net. We know Boyd has all
the talent in the world, but a simple ball every now and then wouldn’t go amiss.
Sweeney and Bullock I don’t think properly clicked in the centre of the park,
it may take a while for them to get an understanding going, today them seemed
to be chasing the same balls and getting in each others way. Thomas Butler looked
fit and in excellent form, however he was sacrificed as Scott brought on Jon
Daly, Eifion Williams and Gavin Strachan for Butler Llewellyn and Bullock. Jon
Daly won a number of good headers, but there didn’t seem to be a Pools player
on hand to capitilise.
Not the end of the world losing on the first day, Bradford had two chances
and took them both. No doubt they’ll be there or there about’s come the end
of the season. Pools need to perhaps get to know each other a little better.
We have new partnerships right up the spine of the team, it may take a game
of two for them all the click.
Martin Scott said:-
"I’m not pleased because we didn’t get the winning start we wanted.
I can’t question the players efforts but maybe we were a little naive today."
