Bradford City 3-0 Chesterfield

September 27, 2009 in City, Match Reports

A creditable performance saw each City man play his part in a 3-0 victory over the Spireites.

Both teams looked to attack and the first half saw quite an open game, pleasing on the eye - and one that I imagine would have been enjoyable for a neutral. Scott Neilson probably provided more entertainment than any other player in the first half with some promising runs and the winger was unlucky to see his left-foot shot saved well by the Chesterfield goalkeeper.

Having been ‘turned-round’ by the Chesterfield captain, City began by attacking the Kop in the first half and immediately set Neilson off on a run down the right hand side. Flynn opened the scoring (right in front of us, as we sit just to the right of the goal at the Kop end) when he cut inside and hit a perfectly placed shot past Lee and my irrational fear that City would perform poorly or be unlucky kicking ‘the wrong way’ in the first half began to subside.

Eastwood made an excellent save at a crucial stage in the second half to deny a Chesterfield player, and City promptly went up the other end and scored through Neilson to go 2-0 up. Rehman and Williams deserve credit for some fine defending and keeping a potentially dangerous Chesterfield side from breaching City’s defence. Bateson looked reasonably solid, while Luke O’Brien seemed to struggle with his passing – but looked very good when attacking the right side of Chesterfield’s defence, beating players on several occasions without quite being able to find a City man with his crosses.

In midfield, Bullock looked every inch the solid defensive midfielder some City fans have suspected for a while he might make (I have previously been critical of his performances when playing in the more advanced role McCall seemed to see as Bullock’s best position) and performed well – unfussy, accurate with his passing, and firm in the tackle. James O’Brien was fairly quiet and did not, in my opinion, perform as well as Bullock or Flynn but could be described as ‘competent’. Flynn, meanwhile, seems to get better by the game and deserved his goal (particularly given the decent efforts in the recent game against Burton that saw the City midfielder out of luck).

Scott Neilson showed much promise and entertained us with his dribbling skills, willingness to run at players, and accurate shooting. He may not be as fast as other recent City wingers (Daley, Colbeck, Muirhead), but he seems to have plenty of ability and may turn out to be a better player than Colbeck or Muirhead (memories of Daley are becoming fonder the longer he is absent – for some reason, I seem to have no recollection of all the criticism he has apparently been subject to in the past). Hanson performed manfully and perhaps should have won more free-kicks as Chesterfield attempted to prevent him winning the ball in the air, but this is arguable – perhaps he just needs a little more strength and a little more experience in order to get the better of older, wiser players such as Robert Page. Evans impressed me again with his willing running, and he seems to have sufficient strength and pace to cause defenders problems at this level – a combination that Michael Boulding seems to lack, being too easily pushed off the ball at times.

Substitute Chris Brandon’s late finish was the icing on the cake and made the three points inevitable. Sharry also came off the bench, looked lively, and passed the ball well – providing the assist for Scott Neilson’s late shot against the post.

City’s new-look formation sometimes seems a little lop-sided, but this does not appear to be a problem. James O’Brien and Gareth Evans were able between them to provide sufficient cover for Luke O’Brien on the left-hand side for City and the 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation does not seem to suffer from an inability to get men forward, as has been the case in the past. Playing three central midfielders in O’Brien, Flynn, and Bullock seems to give us a fighting chance when it comes to controlling games (and I think O’Leary would fit in well to this midfield three if Bullock or O’Brien were indisposed, with Sharry a possible understudy for Flynn). According to the BBC’s report, City had 57% of the possession and most of the shots and corners – this was not always the case over the last two seasons at home, when McCall tried to play with a more traditional 4-4-2 with two out-and-out wingers. Perhaps the new formation and the new players will continue to control home games and bring success to the club. This is something I hope for rather than expect, but I am optimistic about our future at the moment having seen effort and enthusiasm put in against Port Vale, Lincoln, and Burton being replicated against Chesterfield, but with a much better outcome.