Jamie Walker’s goal a couple of minutes before half-time was enough for Bradford City to defeat Crewe Alexandra at Valley Parade yesterday.
Manager Lee Bell made 1 change from last Saturday’s 2-2 home draw against Walsall as Connor O’Riordan came into the team for Zac Williams, the latter dropping down to the bench. Former Alex defender Sam Stubbs captained the hosts while striker Vadaine Oliver was not involved.
The opening opportunity fell to the visitors in the 29th minute as Chris Long had an effort saved by Harry Lewis before the Bantams took the lead a couple of minutes before the break as Walker would score from 6 yards out, converting a right-sided cross from Kevin McDonald, before Lewis denied O’Riordan as his header from a Mickey Demetriou long throw.
The second half saw the hosts have a few more chances before Smith would have the ball in the net for Bradford in the 76th minute but would be denied by the assistant’s flag. Lewis would make a great save to keep Joel Tabiner off the scoresheet as the Alex suffered their first defeat of the season.
The next couple of games see the Alex travel to Port Vale for the Carabao Cup 2nd Round on Tuesday before returning to league action at home to MK Dons next Saturday.
Final Thoughts:
We were never going to go through the season without having defeats but this one feels a little harsh to have lost as I felt we were well worth a point as both teams cancelled each other out for the most part.
Valley Parade
League 2
26/08/2023 4:00 pm
Attendance: 16736
Referee: Darren Drysdale
| Bradford City | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walker | |||||||
| Lewis | Davies | ||||||
| Platt | Offord | ||||||
| Stubbs | O'Riordan | ||||||
| Kelly | 66 | Demetriou | |||||
| Oyegoke | 66 | Cooney | 75 | ||||
| Pattison | Powell | 87 | |||||
| McDonald | Tabiner | ||||||
| Richards | 73 | Adebisi | |||||
| Smith | 80 | Tracey | |||||
| Cook | Long | ||||||
| Walker | 80 | Nevitt | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Doyle | Booth | ||||||
| Halliday | 66 | Williams | 90 | ||||
| Ridehalgh | 73 | Thomas | |||||
| Smallwood | 66 | Holicek | 75 | ||||
| Osadebe | 80 | Griffiths | 87 | ||||
| Pointon | Lunt | ||||||
| Derbyshire | 80 | Billington | |||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 12 | Goal attempts | 10 |
| 2 | On Target | 3 |
| 4 | Corners | 11 |
| 10 | Fouls | 8 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 48 | % | 52 |