Same old story- Bradford City lose on the road yet again

Written by Lee Pasquariello

I’m keeping this one quite short as there’s really not a lot to say, simply because I’ve said it plenty of times already. 

I am beyond fed up of writing about these away losses every other week. I’m really getting sick of seeing it as well, and the feeling of pure frustration about yet another away day collapse. At this point I’m genuinely starting to sound like a broken record, but unfortunately so does our away form. 

I didn’t go to the game yesterday and instead watched only the second half on TV. For the majority of that second half I thought I was in for a good afternoon, and a professional away performance. That the rest of my Saturday afternoon wouldn’t be a waste of time. 

The lineup looked strong with only one change made from Tuesday’s win against Rotherham, and from what I saw in that second half we were actually good. We were moving the ball well, and going forward quickly. Matt Pennington continued his good run of form and scored his second goal in the space of a week with a fantastic strike into the top corner. 

It genuinely felt like we were on the move, and that we would FINALLY get a result away from home. 

Then came the injury time, nine minutes added on, and it couldn’t have gone any worse. 

The game management in added time was nothing short of pathetic, from the players and the management team. Firstly from Graham Alexander, for bringing on an extra defender in Joe Wright for an attacking player in Bobby Pointon. all to sit on a 1-0 and it seemed such a strange decision. It will never work away from home, as it means you’re basically allowing the opposition to come at you, inviting pressure. 

And secondly the players. You simply cannot sit back during NINE minutes of added time away from home on a 1-0 and expect to win. You need to be alert, switched on defensively and keep your shape. City did neither of these things, which meant that Reading equalised in the 90th minute.

Matt Ritchie headed in the winner in the 97th minute and by this point I was absolutely raging. Even with an extra defender on the pitch it was so unbelievably soft, pretty much a free header in the middle of the box that went straight through Sam Walker’s legs. 

I can’t say I’m even surprised though, because in that added time Reading wanted it more. It was always bound to happen from the moment we stopped playing attacking football. 

Five defeats in a row on the road is not unlucky. It brings serious questions to the team’s mentality. Funnily enough, at the time of writing this I just remembered something. This exact situation happened last season against Swindon, where 2 goals were scored in the 90th and 95th minutes respectively, and near enough the exact same thing happened yesterday, so it would suggest that it’s nothing new. 

Even though we are still fourth in the table, we are now thirteen points behind Lincoln who are in second place, and more concerningly, Reading are now only seven points behind us. So it means City need to get a winning run going quickly. 

Overall our away form really is a major problem that needs sorting urgently, otherwise we won’t stand a single chance in the playoffs this season if we even still finish there. 

We now have a full week off until we host Leyton Orient. For me, Graham Alexander needs to learn from this, as we cannot go through games sitting on 1-0 leads, going defensive and just hoping for the best. As most people who read this blog will know, I have been and still very much am a fan of Graham Alexander and what he’s done for this club, but that substitution is pretty much the main reason why we threw it away. With twelve games to go, every point from now on will matter.