Absolutely superb. I’m not just talking about Andy Warrington’s performance in the Rotherham goal, I’m talking (shockingly) about Bradford City’s performance as a team – and as individual members of that team. Rhys Evans did everything that was asked of him – including some very good saves indeed. Paul Arnison was solid at right back, Graeme Lee excelled in the air and made several good blocks, Zesh Rehman looked a different player at centre-half, and Luke O’Brien looked back to his best at left back. Nicky Law was too much for the Rotherham defence to handle (as evidenced by his being hacked down by the Rotherham number six in the corner where the Kop meets the Midland Road stand), Dean Furman ran the midfield and was superb (as usual), Lee Bullock looked cumbersome to me – but I think he did win his fair share in the air and got forward to add muscular support to the front line. Kyle Nix, meanwhile, went from being the forgotten man to being a member of the starting eleven for the first time since… Well, I actually can’t remember the last time I saw him start a game, but he fitted right in in what may be his best position as a narrow left-midfielder (a role I believe he could play in either a midfield three or a diamond four). Steve Jones was nominally at centre-forward but got around the pitch and had some joy getting in between the Rotherham centre halves and full backs. Thorne pinched a goal that I thought was Dean Furman’s and later converted a cross from Nicky Law to add a second. Of the subs, Bower looked sharp, Colbeck did some positive work in attack (notably the crossfield pass to set up Steve Jones’s goal in the second half), and Paul McLaren was pretty anonymous (I don’t recall him touching the ball, to be honest).
The most disappointing element of this game was, for me, the booing of Joe Colbeck by one or two morons. I made a point of loudly cheering Joe on and applauding every good piece of play from the winger because I was narked by the idiocy of the prats behind me on the Kop who, instead of supporting their team and the individual members, chose to act on their prejudices and boo one of our most committed players. It was a particularly stupid act to boo Colbeck as he is a confidence player and could have been adversely affected by the catcalls. Fortunately, the booing morons were small in number and therefore relatively quiet in voice and Joe perhaps didn’t hear them. Or perhaps he did, and simply decided to be brave and try to play his usual game in defiance of the few know-nothings who don’t appreciate him (I must emphasise that there were only a few – the vast majority of City fans weren’t stupid enough to boo the oncoming substitute).
The most heartening thing was probably the show of support for McCall (at one point the top tier of the Kop broke in a new song – “Stuart, Stay With Us”), and the SOS banners were duly held aloft by myself and others in support of our manager. Actually, scratch that – the most heartening thing was the way the players responded. I’m used to the fans doing their bit, it was a very pleasant surprise indeed that the players did theirs too. Right from the off it was a good game and City were up against a team who looked like they should have been in the promotion places (which, of course, they would have been if not for the points deduction they suffered). Despite Rotherham’s performance, City got on top through Thorne’s two goals in the first half. The goals came through good work by Dean Furman in the first instance and Nicky Law in the second. Thorne could also have scored on several other occasions, notably when a cross from Jones found him at the far post and his shot was saved by Iker Casillas. I mean Gianluigi Buffon. No, I mean Andy Warrington. Having seen his shot saved, Thorne watched as Nicky Law hit the rebound into the Kop (although it came at Law quickly leaving little time to adjust his body and get a shot away). City’s third goal was a killer for Rotherham and it came when Rhys Evans palmed the ball into the path of Luke O’Brien, who beat his man and gave it to Colbeck. Colbeck carried the ball forward before hitting a superb crossfield pass to Jones, who took it on and beat the excellent Andy Warrington. I’m not a member of Warrington’s fan club – I just thought his performance on the day was stunning (the blond lad (Taylor?) wasn’t bad either). Without Warrington in goal, Rotherham could have conceded six or seven against a rampant Bradford City. Rhys Evans made one excellent save (I think with the score at 2-0) and at another point in the first half a free-kick led to Rotherham having shots blocked by defenders and saved by Evans. The best games of last season were, for me, Shrewsbury and Rotherham (4-2 and 3-2 respectively). The best game this season was yesterday’s against Rotherham. I’m almost looking forward to playing them next year. Hopefully when we do next play them we will have some of the players (and all of the management staff) who represented us so well yesterday.
Evans 7
Arnison 7
Lee 7
Rehman 8
O’Brien 8
Law 9
Furman 9
Bullock 6
Nix 7
Thorne 8
Jones 8
Subs: Bower 7, Colbeck 7, McLaren n/a.
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