Bradford survive

Saturday 30th December.

With the upturn in form enjoyed over the last few games, teams are coming to the McAlpine with a different objective – not to lose. During our poor early season spell teams played more open football because they felt that they could take 3 points with them, but now they are playing far more defensively and it’s up to Town to break them down.

Always able to spring the odd surprise, Macari elected to give Adie Moses his full debut for Town playing him at right back and moving Thomas Heary into midfield as a replacement for Craig Armstrong. It was a strange decision but presumably it was decided to strengthen the defensive line-up because of the threat of former Wimbledon striker Efan Ekoku, as well as giving the midfield some extra bite and aggression.

This was not a game to stir the blood although the highest crowd of the season could have done with it because it was a tad parky to say the least. In common with Tranmere on Tuesday, Wednesday came not to lose and looked more likely to succeed as their defence was far better organised. This is not to say that there weren’t scoring chances at both ends because there were, but both defences generally had the better of things. An early free kick from Vincent from saved comfortably by the rotund Pressman, whilst at the other end Morrison knocked a clear goal chance over the bar and then Vaesen had to be alert clearing the ball away from Ekoku. With Wednesday dominating this spell of the game Vaesen had to react quickly again in the 20th minute to deny Efan Ekoku as he raced through on goal and managed to saved well with his legs.

The balance of play started to swing Town’s way and Pressman had to move his bulk quickly to turn a Facey shot around the post for a corner, but the more Town came out of their shell the better organised the visitors defence looked. Simon Baldry whose confidence continues to grow with his extended run in the side warmed Pressman’s hands with a powerful 20-yard shot that was destined for the back of the net, but despite our dominance Wednesday could and should have taken the lead in the 40th minute. The Owls broke out of defence leaving the Town defence horribly out of position, but then Owen Morrison made a complete hash of what should have been the killer pass and Moses was able to bring the ball out of defence. Town’s most effective looking striker of the half was the hard working Delroy Facey who chased everything as though his life depended on it and caused the visitors defence problems as they were rarely allowed time to settle on the ball.

The second half began as a war of attrition with both midfields on top and little creative play for the first 20 minutes or so although Jon Dyson was unlucky with a header that past just over the bar. Following the introduction of Sibon for the visitors on the hour mark Town started to wake up and Ndlovu was unlucky with a 20-yard shot that went narrowly wide of the post and a lovely run past two Wednesday defenders, he was then unlucky again when another shot for goal hit the legs Kevin Gallen and was deflected wide of the goal.

Sibon’s brief involvement in the game ended on 74 minutes when he received his second yellow card in a couple of minutes, and off he went. Following a foul for tugging Ndlovu’s shirt he received his first yellow card from the referee, and then only minutes later he left the same player in a heap after a poor challenge right under the referees nose. The official from Blackpool had no other option than to book him again and send him for an early bath. There was no doubt about whether he should have walked, but Wednesday boss Paul Jewell would have every right to be mad with the player because it was stupid.

With the numerical advantage, Town should have been able to boss the game more effectively, yet they seemed strangely reluctant to go for the jugular and in my opinion showed too much respect for the Sheffield side. The visitors re-organised to play with just one attacker, Efan Ekoku and for all Town huffed and puffed they failed to get most of their shots on target and Pressman was put under little real pressure. Ben Thornley was brought on for Kevin Gallen with 5 minutes remaining but he failed to ignite Town’s attacks and the game drifted to a goalless conclusion.

It was good to see a near 19,000 crowd with over 15,000 home supporters, but it was a shame that the quality of the football didn’t match the level of support. A win would have been a wonderful way to sign off the year but credit where it’s due and at the end of the day the unbeaten month of December was sustained and maintained Town’s position of 19th in the table. A lot of games fell victim to the weather, so not too much can be read into the league position with a number of teams around us having games in hand. The game today at Selhurst Park was postponed, so there must be a doubt over the New Years day visit to play Crystal Palace.

TOWN 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0 Position in table – 19th Town – Vaesen; Vincent; Lucketti; Dyson; Heary; Moses; Baldry; Holland; Gallen (Thornley 85); Facey; Ndlovu. Subs not used – Margetson; Gray; Irons; Gorré. Sheffield Wednesday – Pressman; Haslam; Harkness; Walker; Quinn; Hendon; Hamshaw (Sibon 61); Westwood (Lescott 45); Ekoku; Blatsis; Morrison (O’Donnell 75). Subs not used – Stringer; Bromby. Referee – Mark Cowburn (Blackpool). Attendance 18,931

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