A Slip-Up at Leyton Orient Sees City Lose Automatic Promotion Spot 

Written by Lee Pasquariello

Today was a day that delivered a brutal reality check to Bradford City’s promotion hopes. What began with the ambition of staying in the top two and keeping pressure on league leaders Cardiff, the complete opposite happened. A 2-1 loss, and slipping down to third place.  

For a team arriving in London on the back of three straight wins in the league, the loss felt like a sudden stop to their momentum. This result and Lincoln’s result in beating the league leaders has transformed this busy festive schedule entirely. Instead of aiming to stay in the top 2, we are now aiming to get back into it.  

The first half: Poor goalkeeping, missed opportunities and Humphrys’ long range strike 

Bradford City began this afternoon in second place, knowing that a win would keep the pressure on Cardiff. The early intent in the first half was brilliant, with us playing with a high intensity pressing high and creating plenty of chances. 

This then paid off in the 17th minute with one of the strangest goals seen in a long time. The ball was cleared by one of City’s defenders in the penalty area to the other end of the pitch, and Orient keeper Tommy Simkin had rushed out of his area to clear it. Humphrys was the one who picked it up though, and the keeper was slow to get back. For a second in this passage of play the keeper seemed to stop and stand still, meaning Humphrys could put in a good, low strike into an empty net.  

This goal came after a few minutes previously where Antoni Sarcevic missed a glorious chance to score when the ball came to him in the box whilst he was in space, but instead he somehow hit the post. If this chance went in, then it would certainly have been a long way back for Orient to come back from. Instead it gave them a lifeline they did not waste.

How City lost control 

As the first half was coming to an end, Leyton Orient were beginning to find a rhythm, mostly due to their impressive midfield duo of Tyreeq Bakison and Jack Moorhouse. With a few minutes to go until half time, it was Bakison who delivered a perfect cross from a free kick for Dom Ballard to head in to level the scores.  

After seeing this goal back it looks like the majority of City’s defence stopped as if an offside was going to be called, although this was not the case.  

The second half- poor defensive errors 

The second half began as a tense one with only a couple of half chances for City, with Humphrys and last week’s man of the match Jenson Metcalfe drawing good saves from the Orient keeper, but that was all we got as from the moment Orient scored in the first half it was all them throughout.

In the 59th minute the winner came, and it was completely avoidable. Instead of a set piece like the first goal it was started from a poor, rushed pass from Ciaran Kelly as he attempted to go long, but his clearance fell to an Orient player and the ball went immediately into the box where two City defenders missed allowing Dom Ballard to net once again. He made no mistake with the finish, scoring his second of the match. This was his third goal in two games for the hosts.

A Response that Never Came 

From the moment the ball hit the back of the net, the energy and press seemed to drain out of the City players. What was the most concerning after this wasn’t just the score, but the intensity and press we’d been seeing from us all season was just not there. Instead, we resorted to long ball that went aimlessly nowhere, and were far too easy for Orient’s defence, most notably Dan Happe, who seemed to win everything that came his way.

In an attempt to gain some control on this match, Graham Alexander turned to the bench, bringing off Halliday and Pointon to be replaced by Neufville and Swan. The substitution was aimed at providing pace and width but it largely fell flat. The pair of them struggled to do anything at all or create opportunities in a game Orient had a strong hold on.  

The battle in midfield, which is usually one of City’s strengths this season, was well and truly lost in the final half an hour. Bakinson and Moorehouse won a large majority of the second balls, were dominant over City’s midfield, and they were good in making sure the service to Stephen Humphrys was completely cut off.  

Instead of a dramatic finish, the game changed into a series of stop-start fouling and misplaced passes, the majority of them from City, which suggests that we had completely ran out of ideas.  

To sum it up it was a completely frustrating day all round. In a way, something like this was bound to happen at some point because we’ve seen us slipping from leads this season during that inconsistent run in October and November, with us getting plenty of draws despite us scoring first. Ending the day with nothing this time though, after being in a winning position makes it a harder result to take.  

However saying all that, we are still in a very good position. If we can get back to winning ways and win our game in hand against Port Vale, we’re right back in it!  

Can City Bounce Back on Boxing Day? 

The team are now going into a heavily congested festive season. Four games in ten days with plenty of points on offer, with the first game against Wigan Athletic at Valley Parade.  

The question now is, will they be able to bounce back like they have done well this season after 2 previous defeats?

Or are they going to slip back into an inconsistent run of form like we saw in November?

It will definitely be interesting to see how the team approaches this period as it is usually a crucial part of the season.