Bradford survive

Tuesday 24th October.

Following the latest clutch of injuries picked up on Saturday, Town struggled to put eleven what you would call first-teamers onto the pitch for tonight’s game against Crewe Alexandra. The team that finally walked onto the Gresty Road pitch had a rather ‘mustn’t lose’ look about them with Dean Gorré and Simon Baldry playing up front and Chris Hay (the only recognised fit striker) on the bench. Macari failed in a loan bid (money?) for Leicester City striker Trevor Benjamin, so we had to make do with what we had available.

As if our injury crisis wasn’t already bad enough 6 minutes after kick-off Steve Jenkins was forced to withdraw after suffering a nasty gash following a clash of heads with Crewe’s Chris Lumsden. Chris Hay immediately replaced Jenkins but it meant a re-jig of the formation and is symptomatic of Town’s luck this season. Despite this early re-organisation and lack of recognised forwards on the pitch other than Chris Hay who is allegedly a striker, Town completely dominated the first half and created a whole host of chances. Scott Sellars suggested that Town were at least trying to end the barren 2-month run since our last victory and he tested Jason Kearton with a powerful drive from around 25 yards but the Crewe keeper saved well.

Chris Hay had an chance when Kearton mishandled the ball but his hasty shot from an acute angle was off target and Ben Thornley tried his luck from the wedge of the area but typical of the winger it failed to trouble the Crewe custodian as it flew over the bar. The first real opportunity for Crewe came just after the half hour when a through ball from Kenny Lunt (rhyming slang?) found David Wright unmarked in the area but Nico Vaesen got down well to make the save with his legs. Within minutes Town were denied once again when a pass from Dean Gorré found Ben Thornley lurking in the six-yard box and for once managed to get his shot on target only to see his effort blocked just in front of the line by David Wright.

For all of our pressure we failed to create too many guilt edged openings and it seems as though when chances presents themselves we are panicking and making a hash of the effort, perhaps we have forgotten how to score – it’s been a while now. It required some desperate defending at times from the home side, but for the most part we were our own worst enemies up front. Apart from the occasional tidying up work Vaesen could have brought his deck chair and watched the match in relative comfort as Town did everything right except bury the ball in the back of the net. Half time arrived with a sense that the Macari effect was working but mixed with a sense of frustration that we hadn’t punished a poor looking Crewe outfit.

The pattern of the second half was much the same as the previous 45 minutes with the home side producing little up front as Town contrived to squander the opportunities that presented themselves. In the 50th minute a low cross from Ben Thornley found Dean Gorré in a great position but the Dutch midfield was reckless and hit his shot wide when the goal seemed an easier target. Town’s profligacy continued as Thornley shot over the bar (what again?) from 20 yards and Rob Kozluk having done the hard work beating three players hit his effort straight at Kearton. Even then as the Crewe keeper let the shot slip from his grasp the ball came out to Gorré who seemed surprised at his good fortune and shot weakly back into the grateful arms of Kearton.

David Beresford was introduced on 67 minutes to add some pace to Town’s attack and within 5 minutes the game was finally graced by a goal, the only problem was that the team scored it was the one from Cheshire. After we had dominated the majority of the game Crewe’s Colin Cramb carved through a static Town defence and played the ball through to Colin Little, Cramb continued his run into the penalty area to head home the return pass beyond the desperate stretch of Nico Vaesen. It was cruel luck and symptomatic of how cruel football can be, but if you can’t convert your own chances there is always a possibility that this will happen, particularly away from home. Despite the deficit Town continued to try to salvage something from the game and near the end David Beresford tried his luck without reward and even in injury time when Crewe goalkeeper Kearton could only parry a cross from Scott Sellars, Simon Baldry's follow up went wide when it sounded as though it was easier for him to score.

With a really tough encounter on Saturday to high spending Blackburn Rovers it makes you wonder where the next goal and the next points are coming from. Although they don’t seem to be in any hurry to make the new managerial appointment, they really must get their fingers out to stop the rot as we are beginning to be cast adrift at the foot of the table. Recent results have conspired to mean that it will now be at least 2 games before we can get ourselves out of the bottom 3, and contemplating a position of relative safety.

Crewe Alexandra 1 (Cramb 72) TOWN 0 Position in table – 24th Town – Vaesen; Jenkins (Hay 7); Kozluk; Armstrong; Lucketti; Gray (Senior 87); Baldry; Sellars; Gorré; Irons (Beresford 67); Thornley. Subs not used – Margetson; Mattis. Crewe Alexandra – Kearton; Wright; Smith; MacAuley; Walton (Sodje 76); Lunt; Lumsden (Street 14); Sorvel; Little; Tait (Cramb 55); Rivers. Subs not used – Bankole; Hulse. Referee – Neale Barry (Scunthorpe). Attendance 13,161

Next

Previous