Bradford vs Gillingham

[Northern]

Another game of two halves! :mad:

I was impressed with the first half, we started fairly slow but we then started to play some proper football! Colbeck's goal was superb, great play down the wing from McLaren, an inch perfect pass and a cracking finish! Half time came at the wrong time for us really!

Second half we just seemed to collapse, it was obvious they'd get a goal back but it was far too easy for the lad to score after mistakes from our defenders! After the sending off Gillingham seemed to improve, we looked to have only 10 men not them! And again, it was far too easy for them to strole right through the middle of defence to get the equaliser! I thought we were unlucky not to win it in the last minute with those 3 chances but I think that would've been unfair on Gills to be honest!

I thought O'Brien and Thorne were the stand out players today, Furman worked his socks off again too! At the end of the day we're never going to get promoted if we throw points away like that! tdwn:

I feel like we lost today! :(

Evans - 6
Moncur - 6
Lee - 5
Clarke - 4
O'Brien - 7
Daley - 6
Furman - 7
McLaren - 6
Colbeck - 6
Thorne - 7
Boulding - 6

[Parrot]

Looks like the football Karma came back to bite us on the arse and gave us some of the same medicine the Accy supporters had last week! :(

[mowgli]

At half time I thought we looked comfortable, we weren't amazing but we were leading and had been playing some good football. McLaren looked to be playing a bit further forward first half and Furman was sweeping up anything in the centre of midfield.

2nd half was like a different team, mistakes galore and Colbeck looked like he wanted to be elsewhere. Apart from the goal he was awful today and he seems to have a really poor attitude at times, often failing to run down the wing and find space.

Another 2pts dropped and our league postion is starting to have a false look about it. Topp had 1st touch of a rapist but glad to see him get a run out. I think we need to make some massive changes but it seems some people are guaranteed their place in the team no matter how dire they play. I thought Furman was man of the match today, he always holds position well and is always available as an output for defence, midfield and attack. He seems to find time on the ball and his passing is very accurate, no nonsense and can be used to switch play quickly from the right to the left or vice versa.

I'd personally drop Colbeck and give a go to either Nix, Sharry or Rory Boulding (if fit) on the right. I hope the ginger one can get tactics and formations right for Monday so we don't get humiliated on Sky.

[EMB Bantam]

Agree with the above posts. First half looked like we had the game sewn up and I was hoping that we could put them to the sword after the break, but once again we failed to control the match, giving away too many sloppy passes, and sacrificing our decent passing game for the long ball approach. The basics of football - retaining the ball, passing and movement - seemed to go out of the window. Suddenly the ball was like a stranded whale - we just wanted to release it back to the opposition as quick as possible! Credit to Gillingham though, as they upped their game 2nd half. They closed us down quickly which is what teams have started doing to us recently, and we seem to be easily unsettled by that tactic.

I was hoping that someone would telll me that Colbeck was carrying an injury as that's the only reason I can find for his dip in form. Took his goal well and produced a good shot late on but they were his only real contributions. Not that he should be the only one singled out. The central defence seem to have gone to pot. Lee & Clarke are playing like complete strangers and are conceding sloppy goals at an alarming rate. I didn't think the full backs did too much wrong but the goals seem to be coming either through the centre or because of an inability to clear our area. This is something that needs addressing, and soon. We certainly have goals in us, but we need to tighten up at the back. Surely having 2 ex-defenders on the coaching staff count for something...?

On the positive side - and although this felt like one - it wasn't a defeat. However, we now need to rely on our excellent away form to keep us up there. Player wise, I was also impressed by Furman. He covered a lot of ground, and wanted to get involved. He played for the 90 minutes, unlike some, and tried to be positive despite sometimes going backwards with his passing. However that same criticism can be levelled at most of the team.

Could it be time for some of the fringe players to have a chance? Daley on the right with Osbourne down the left? Sharry in the centre, maybe. And could it be time - once back from injury - to give Bower a recall?

Still think that this is our sticky patch, and that we have enough quality to turn it around, but Macca needs to make some tough decisions as we are in need of freshening up, even at this early stage.

[Hulmebantam]

The basics of football - retaining the ball, passing and movement - seemed to go out of the window. Suddenly the ball was like a stranded whale - we just wanted to release it back to the opposition as quick as possible! Credit to Gillingham though, as they upped their game 2nd half. They closed us down quickly which is what teams have started doing to us recently, and we seem to be easily unsettled by that tactic.

.

Spot on, and that is the most disappointing thing about today's result. Gillingham deserved the point, but we made it easy for them with the consistent approach of 40 yard passes that constantly returned the ball to them.

I would like to have seen Nix come on to put a bit more bite into the midfield.