Two minutes with… Bradford City

Bradford were the visitors to Underhill on Saturday afternoon. Bantams’ fan Kate reveals all in this instalment of ‘Two minutes with...’

Pre-match

Had you been to Underhill before?

No, I hadn’t.

How did you get to the game?

I travelled from Leeds so a mixture of train, tube and bus! I use a wheelchair so I had an interesting time negotiating accessible routes.

The match

Whereabouts in the ground did you sit/stand?

I was behind the goal in the away seated area.

What did you make of the game?

It’s one we wanted to win so to be honest I was disappointed! It wasn’t a classic match but I was surprised by how much football Barnet played and I think we struggled with that in the second half.

Who (from either side) do you think deserved to be man of the match?

Barnet’s winger, Yiadom – he caused us problems all afternoon.

Post-match

Was the score line a fair reflection on the game?

Probably. Barnet didn’t have many chances but they took them, and we didn’t take ours.

Who do you play next, and how do you think you’ll get on?

We have Aston Villa on Tuesday in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final. My head says Villa will win, but my heart reckons we can just nick it and take a narrow lead into the second leg! I can dream, right?

Ratings

Cost of match day ticket

£13, cheaper than a lot of other grounds, and probably fair given that Barnet are usually in the lower half of the league. ––– 8/10

Purchases made at ground

I only bought a Coke and the standard was fine, but the kiosk is up some steps which meant I had to get someone to buy it for me. ––– 5/10

View

Being behind the goal means you don’t always get a clear view of the opposite goal to where you are sitting, but there weren’t any obstructions besides my own eyesight! ––– 7/10

Quality of football

Better than I was expecting from Barnet having seen them at Valley Parade in the reverse fixture, but you lose a point for the score! ––– 6/10

Overall experience

The travel was much easier than I thought. The stewards were helpful, particularly when buying my ticket. As I mentioned before, there were access issues to the kiosk. (I think there was another kiosk down the far end of the stand but it wasn’t clear if this was open.) I would have obviously preferred a different result, but there wasn’t anything Barnet could do about that! ––– 7/10

Total ––– 33/50

 

And you can follow Kate on Twitter @bantamskatee

Fans’ season preview 2012/13 – part one

Accrington Stanley

Mel – @melstanley01

14^th in League Two – “Could do better”

We haven’t lost any major players, luckily we managed to keep hold of the likes of Amond, Nasalia and Hatfield –players I believe to be key this season. New signing Shepherd looks good.

I’m positive for this season and have fairly high expectations. I’m hoping for a push for play-offs or, at worst, a top half of the table finish.

The main game to look forward to is Rochdale’s return to League Two – for obvious reasons. In terms of moving forward, they’ll prove to be a test as they have a lot of our former players and management. From my point of view (like others), I think that’ll prove to be the most interesting game.

AFC Wimbledon

Rob

16^th in League Two – “Baptism of fire”

In the close season we released Jack Turner, Chris Bush, Fraser Franks, Gareth Gwillim, Bret Johnson, Jamie Stuart, Reece Jones, Ricky Wellard, Kieran Djilali; in addition to Ryan Jackson, Lee Minshull, James Mulley and Max Porter who were all told in January that they would be leaving. Replacements include a Venezuelan goalkeeper Jaimez-Ruiz, left-back Warren Cummings from Bournemouth and right-back Curtis Osano. We have permanently signed centre back Pim Balkestein, who was on loan last season as well as Angus MacDonald (defender) on loan from Reading.

I expect our Goalkeeper Seb Brown to have a good season along with Jack Midson who will hopefully top the goal scoring league. I expect this season to be very tough and anywhere outside the relegation zone would be nice and fancy a decent run in the FA cup.

I’m looking forward to a better trip to Barnet this season without the rain and thumping defeat. Wycombe is a ground I went to with Wimbledon FC so fancy a day out there too!

Aldershot Town

Rhys – @rhys9emberson

11^th in League Two – “Record breaking season”

We have lost our captain, fans’ player of the season and player of the season, Darren Jones, to Shrewsbury; as well as Straker to Southend. Our replacements – Sonny Bradley and Troy Brown – both were on loan last season. Troy has signed permanently and Sonny is on a season long loan from Hull City. We have signed Tonkin from Oxford as a replacement for Straker.

We have broken our transfer record this summer, signing Craig Reid from Stevenage and have so much strength in depth. In other years it’s been easy to predict the starting 11, but this season it is very difficult. My season expectations are to finish in the top half and once again challenge for the play-offs. I think we can sneak into the play-offs and maybe finish 7th.

On a personal level, my aim is to do 20 away games this season. The fixtures I looked for when they were released were Oxford away Wimbledon away as their both excellent away days normally; as well as the first and last game which are Plymouth and Rotherham away. Wycombe at home is always a home game to look forward to as it’s the return of Gary Waddock the man who guided us into the football league. Exeter is the first home game and I am looking forward to once again being on my beloved East Bank chanting for 90 minutes. I am also looking forward to York away and hitting The Stone Roses bar – and York will be a new ground for me.

Barnet

22^nd in League Two – “No real surprise”

We released a fair few players at the end of last season, most of which, were out of contract. Whilst a lot of players in May, the remaining players to depart left once the new manager (Mark Robson) took over. The stand-out players, for me, to leave would be McLeod, Mark Hughes and Sam Deering (who’s now at fellow League Two club, Cheltenham). We all knew McLeod would leave, and despite his goals in the first half of the season, he didn’t really seem to have his heart in the club anymore. We were all surprised to see Mark and Sam leave though, as both were influential last campaign, and Hughesy was our skipper (who kept us in the League with that winner at Burton!). Whilst we’ve not really found that 20-goal a season striker to replace McLeod, we have signed Jon Nurse (ex-Dagger) and Jake Hyde has returned to the club after a stint up in Scotland. We’ve also signed the majority of West Ham’s former youth squad, with the pick of the bunch probably being Ahmed Abdulla, who’s had league experience after brief loan-spells with Swindon and Dagenham.

I really don’t know how we will get on this season, but it’s fair to say, I don’t set my expectations very high after the last three seasons. Part of me expects a similar performance, riding chances and maybe even running out of luck! I’d be happy with anything above 18^th, to be honest. New manager, new squad and new philosophy, what could go wrong? It’d be nice to end our football at Underhill on a high, and have something to be happy about for once.

Like every other season, I’m looking forward to Northampton away – even though it’s on the final day! Our penultimate game is our last at Underhill, so I’m looking forward to that, although part of me will feel sad as I’ve grown up with the stadium for the last 18 years or so. York and Fleetwood, both promoted last season, will be new grounds and should be fairly good weekends, in very different parts of the country! Living in Essex, I suppose I have to mention the local games in Southend and Dagenham as well – not that we ever have much luck at either!

Bradford City

Tim – @tjroche

18^th in League Two – “Nearly a disaster”

It was sad to see Dave Syers and Simon Ramsden depart for Doncaster and Motherwell respectively. Both players were popular amongst the fans but unfortunately injuries meant they didn't get a chance to shine last season. The pair were offered new deals but on heavily reduced terms, so it was understandable that they decided to move on. I feel we have brought in some good replacements in Gary Jones and Nathan Doyle though, the latter is an especially popular signing after an impressive loan spell in 2006-2007. Our marquee signing is undoubtedly Andrew Davies. Having spent much of last season at Valley Parade on loan from Stoke City, it looked inevitable that his future lay much higher than League Two. However to our surprise he opted to stay with the Bantams, signing a one-year deal. He is a cut above at this level and will look to continue his central defensive partnership with last season's Player of the Year, Luke Oliver.

Despite our brush with the relegation zone last season, I believe that we possessed the nucleus of a potentially good team. We very rarely got beat by more than the odd goal so it makes sense that rather than making wholesale changes, Phil Parkinson has focused mainly on adding to the existing squad. For the first time in a few seasons we have not seen a large-scale 'clear out' of the squad so I feel that continuity could be a crucial factor in any success we have this season. Most of our fans seem to be enthused by the signings we have made and there is an air of positivity around the club once again. We have sold nearly 9000 season tickets and our supporters seem excited for the new season. Bearing all this in mind, I predict a finish of 5th for Bradford City.

League Two seems to have a more 'Northern' feel about it than in recent seasons, so there will be a nice selection of local trips for our fans. I am particularly looking forward to Fleetwood Town and York City. An early meeting with our old friend Steve Evans at Rotherham United is another to whet the appetite!

Bristol Rovers

Henry – @HJBurridge

(Henry J Burridge Journalism)

13^th in League Two – “Praise Lord McGhee”

Most of the players that we’ve cut were either loans or deadwood, the only real loss being winger Mustapha Carayol, who left for Middlesbrough after some Twitter shenanigans. Of the players Mark McGhee has brought in, David Clarkson looks the pick; assuming we can keep him fit he should rack up a decent goal tally in League Two.

Scottish centre back Garry Kenneth also looks a quality acquisition on paper after he was released by Dundee United, but we could still do with another player in central defence. The main issues are up front, we look very light on options and lack somebody with enough pace to frighten the opposition. McGhee has said he’s still in the market for another four players, and some experience in midfield would be especially handy, but he’s cutting it quite fine!

I’d like to say we’re going for promotion, but without some quick recruits I expect us to fall short. It’s difficult to see where the goals are coming from and we look rather flimsy in the middle but, with the right additions, a play-off spot would please most supporters.

As I’m at university in Plymouth, Argyle away was the first fixture I scoured the list for, and hopefully we might beat them for once so I can avoid more ridicule!

With Swindon going up last season Rovers have lost all their traditional local rivals, which is a bit of a disappointment, leaving Cheltenham as our closest opponents. It doesn’t quite have the same edge that games against Bristol City or Swindon do, but it’s a great day out and we’ll be sure to pack the away end.

Match Report: Barnet 0–4 Bradford City (Barnet Fan’s Perspective)

Bradford went out resounding winners at Underhill last night, in what was being described as a “six-pointer”. Unfortunately for Barnet, more energy was displayed in the away team’s choice of kit as the Bantams looked pretty in pink.

The scoreline, which for those that didn’t know, read Barnet 0–4 Bradford gives a real honest reflection on the match. I heard people saying in the 15/20/30/40 years of watching Barnet, they’ve never seen a display like that. I’ve honestly run out of words to describe how pathetic, abject and frankly embarrassing the performance was. Instead, I’ll just sum-up the action.

Bradford came straight out of the traps and settled quickly into the game, testing Liam O’Brien (replacing Dean Brill) in the Barnet goal from the off. Desperate last-ditch tackles from centre back, Darren Dennehy, prevented City going ahead on two occasions in the opening 10 minutes. Unfortunately it wasn’t third time lucky as on 16 minutes he was sent off for fouling Craig Fagan. I couldn’t see an awful lot from where I was sat, but apparently he was the last man, and by the letter of the law, had to go. So the Bees were to play the final 75 minutes with 10 men and Fagan duly stepped up to take the spot kick.

Barnet 0–1 Bradford (Fagan, ’17)

Clovis Kamdjo, yet again got forward at every set-piece opportunity and a long throw from Mark Byrne, into the box, could have resulted in an equalising goal on another day. As it was, Clov’s header went wide. Instead, the Bantams went straight down the other end of the pitch and scored their second – an excellent cross from Kyel Reid for Jamie Atkinson to steer home, whilst the Bees’ defenders stood out of position and watched each other, rather than the flight of the ball or the opponent.

Barnet 0–2 Bradford (Atkinson, ’37)

I’m not sure what Sanchez said to the team at halftime, but whatever it was, it had no real impact. Bradford were easily in control for the whole of the second period: keeping possession, attacking at will and really making the extra man count.

Kyel Reid then netted his first, and Bradford’s third with a marvellous solo effort – picking the ball up on the wing before driving past two Barnet defenders and slotting it past O’Brien into the bottom corner. The keeper had no chance.

Barnet 0–3 Bradford (Reid, ’58)

With 15 minutes of time remaining, the home side finally had two attempts on target in quick succession – both were met with sarcastic applause and cheers from the crowd. The first by Izale McLeod was a lazy toe punt, hit with no real strength or effort, and the second by the usually quick and creative Sam Deering was a low attempt, again a tame shot, not even testing the Bradford keeper.

But the goals continued for the away side with only two minutes of the 90 left: a long ball from Rob Kozluk was met by Nahki Wells, who managed to stay on-side before rounding O’Brien and having the easiest of finishes into an empty net.

Barnet 0–4 Bradford (Wells, ’88)

The drama didn’t end there though, as before kick-off could commence, words were exchanged between McLeod and on-loan Reading defender, Michael Hector. With arms raised and team-mates trying to separate them, both received a yellow for their ‘handbags’. A bit of much needed entertainment for the Bees’ faithful, but added embarrassment, as if the performance hadn’t been enough. No real strategy, motivation or leadership.

Play-off hopefuls, Rotherham, come to Underhill on Saturday – can anyone else hardly wait..?

Attendance: 1,309

Starting line-ups:

Barnet – O’Brien; Hector, Downing, Dennehy, Saville; Deering, Hughes, Kamdjo, Byrne; Holmes, McLeod

Bradford – McLaughlin; Oliver, Kozluk, Seip, Davies; Flynn, Jones, Ravenhill, Reid; Smalley, Fagan

Goals I’ll never forget

Goals. We all love them. Maybe not so much when they go against you. With Saturday’s demolition still in mind, I thought I’d look back at a few goals I’ll probably never forget. I’d been meaning to blog for a while and after the weekend’s display, I (and most likely, all my fellow Bees) need cheering up! I’m not usually one for remembering goals, score lines and the like, so there must be something special about the following four that make them stick in the mind. I spent hours looking for copies of these goals online and didn't have much luck, which sort of spoils it a bit, but still...

The ‘was it intentional?’ goal

Sam Deering V Chesterfield (2 – 2)

26/03/11

Part of the circus that was Barnet Football Club saw the return of Martin Allen who began his reign of three games with a draw against Champions elect, Chesterfield. Super Sammy Deering scoring both to grab a well-earned point and win last campaign’s ‘goal of the season’ award. The second was an absolute beauty, although I’m still unsure whether he meant it or not – whipping the ball in from the right corner area and slotting into the far top corner with the Spireite’s keeper looking bewildered and off the pitch! I don’t think we’ve ever celebrated a draw so much…

The ‘dead-ball wonder’ goal

Jason Puncheon V Bradford (2 – 1)

01/09/07

A free kick from 35 yards out in the dying stages of this game early in the season saw us win our first match of the 07/08 campaign. With the score level and looking set to stay that way, man of the moment, Jason Puncheon stepped up to score a wonder goal. He had previously hit the bar from a similar position, with only five minutes remaining – so was undoubtedly going to step up again. It’s always great to win a game in added time, but with a goal so magical makes it all the more special. JP only ever scored amazing goals, and it’s no real surprise he’s getting his chance in the Premier League.

The ‘justice’ goal

Jake Hyde V Notts County (1 – 0)

29/08/09

Notts County, the most unpopular team in the league during the season. Munto finance took over, Sven was back (albeit, shortly) on the English football scene, and a team with Lee Hughes involved will always prove to be despised. Add to that Neal Bishop who left the Bees in somewhat negative circumstances and you’ve got a game on your hands. Jake Hyde started on the bench, but joined the action in the last minute, before the fourth official waved four minutes on the board. The saying ‘right place, right time’ couldn’t be more apt when Hydey pounced on a loose ball in the final seconds, wrapping up three points to put past Kasper Schmeichel. Oh, and if anyone remembers the words to his song – let me know! I only know the tune…

Sven watches on.

The ‘big stage’ goal

Dean Sinclair V Manchester United (4 – 1)

26/10/05

Yet again, ‘that’ night gets a mention! It may have ended up being a mere consolation in what began a disastrous evening for us – but the fact that we managed to score against Man United at Old Trafford will probably stay with me forever. Even more amazing when you see where the man in question, Dean Sinclair, is now playing – and well, the fact of the matter is, he isn’t! I still remember the goal as if it were yesterday – a pass from Grazioli after pressurising Gerard Pique, who slipped, allowing Deano to put the ball into an empty net, after rounding Tim Howard in the United goal. Again, although the writing was on the wall, the elation from the fans when we got the goal was something special – and definitely deserved for the effort the 10-men put in.

The day I'll never forget.

Travelling taking its toll?

20/08/11 – Rotherham – Don Valley Stadium – 310 miles

23/08/11 – Burnley – Turf Moor – 444 miles

27/08/11 – Bradford – Coral Windows Stadium – 392 miles

30/08/11 – Colchester – Weston Homes Community Stadium – 130 miles

So in just 11 days, Barnet fans, players and staff have been travelling a little under 1300 miles. Obviously when the fixture list came out, we could have no complaints about expecting to have two away games in succession – regardless of distance, especially with most teams being ‘out of the way’. But for two cup competitions (the Carling Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy), resulting in a further two away trips to fall in between those two League games is somewhat unfortunate.

For a small squad like ours, with the numerous injuries to players like Darren Dennehy, and Steve Kabba (who should be okay to play on Saturday against Accrington), the three long trips ‘up North’ have been difficult. With fatigue setting in with the countless training sessions and miles racked up, it’s with no real surprise the team have found it difficult to deliver positive results (Colchester aside).

Managing to hold a Championship Burnley side at the end of 90 minutes in the Carling Cup on their turf could well be the highlight of the aforementioned fixtures. Taking them to extra time miles from home, and then having to travel a similar distance three days later for a League 2 fixture, it’s clear that the same energy and determination would be lacking. Which of course was the case in a 4-2 defeat at the hands of (then manager-less) Bradford City. It would probably be wrong to quickly jump to conclusions and say the team weren’t good enough, and although the defending was similar to what we have been used to expect – how many teams of a similar size and calibre could say they’d not fall short?

I’ve not been able to get to any of the games, so thought it’d be interesting to hear the opinions of someone who was; as well as how the team think they’ve coped.

Fan’s view:

“4 away games in 10 days is not a usual occurrence – beginning with two league games in a row on the Saturdays were scheduled league games at both Rotherham and Bradford. Our progress in the League Cup gave us another away game at probably the longest unattractive game available in Burnley and in the JPT handed us another away game at nearby Colchester on consecutive Tuesdays.

It is apparent that four away games in such a small amount of time is bound to affect the players mentally and physically. However, in our first two games previously at Morecambe and Portsmouth we put some really impressive performances in and ended up winning both 1-0.

At Rotherham we continued to impress and we really should have won this game in which we mostly dominated. Although it’s also fair to say at the start of this four game away special most would have taken a draw, which is how it ended (2-2).

At Burnley we put another decent performance in but tiredness must have kicked in after the initial 90 minutes, and we lost out in Extra time.

At Bradford after a fairly even first half in the second half we just fell apart some bad defending did not help but you have to wonder had all the travelling had taken its toll on some”.

Thanks to Chris Emery

Player’s view:

“We are looking forward to playing in front of our home crowd on Saturday; it’s been a long few days”.

Thanks to Dan Senda, who can be found on Twitter here

League 2 season preview - part one

I thought I’d do something a little different and after completing the Twitter92 a month or so ago, I thought it’d be apt to see what my fellow League 2 supporters thought about their aspirations and expectations for their teams in the coming season. Here is part one (of four):

Accrington Stanley

Mel – Twitter

“I think we will finish mid table at least. Although I still think we could do another push but will play safe.

Key players: Winnard, Coid and Barnett.

Looking forward to the local derbies, although not many this season. Games to look forward to: Morecambe & Macclesfield; as well as AFC Wimbledon, Port Vale, Torquay & Bradford. Not looking forward to playing Crawley.

We've started from scratch, but as always Coleman can turn nobodies into football players; no ownership battles this season is a plus. Hoping for decent referees this season, ones who keep the flow, keep on pitch & have decent eyesight - yes it may appear a bias whinge but this has been a big blight on our promotion pushes”.

AFC Wimbledon

Matt Griffin – Twitter

“Our manager seems to have made it clear that getting the 50 points to ensure survival is the priority. Anything else would be a bonus for us in our first season back in the football league, although I don’t think a mid-table finish would disappoint or surprise many fans.

Again we’re strong at the back, with Dons fan and playoff final hero Seb Brown between the sticks. New captain Jamie Stuart is enjoyable to watch and alongside him in defence is steady defender Brett Johnson who’s also likely to get a few goals. There are also a couple of youngsters worth keeping an eye on in Reece Jones and Brendan Kiernan.

Looking forward to a couple of decent London derbies again – the long trips across town to Dagenham and Barnet. Also personally wouldn’t mind stuffing Creepy Crawley.

Can’t wait for the new season to start. Just 9 years ago we were in the Combined Counties League so looking forward to some more great memories and fun away days out for this strange little SW London club”.

Aldershot Town

Laura Chiverton – Twitter

“Realistically I think this league will be fairly tough. I would like to think we will make the playoffs. The team has looked incredibly strong during pre season & are looking as strong as the end of last season.

Adam Mekki & Alex Rodman are the players to look out for and are both great players from Conference roots. Bradley Bubbs scored 40 goals last season & has set a target for this season’s campaign.

I’m looking forward to playing AFC Wimbledon. Terry Brown, our former manager was a true legend & gent. He left the club to care for his terminally ill wife before Waddock led us to promotion as champions.

I’m hoping that all clubs this season will spend & budget more wisely to ensure their football league status”.

Barnet

Ben Kentish – Twitter

“Who knows how we’ll fare this season! We've got what is on paper the best manager and backroom team we've had in quite a while, and we've kept most of the squad that played so well at the end of last season, but as ever with Barnet it's impossible to predict. I'd say lower mid-table has to be the minimum aim, and with a few more good signings and a bit of luck with injuries etc, a play-off push is a definite possibility.

Mark Marshall is probably the biggest threat to defenders, but new signings Mark Byrne and Sam Deering are both pretty skillful and will set up a fair few goals, plus score a few themselves I would imagine. McLeod and Kabba (when fit) up front must on their day be one of the best strike partnerships in the league, and in defence we've got a couple of good, solid centre-backs. We've actually got the backings of a pretty good side. 

For some reason I'm quite looking forward to playing AFC Wimbledon. It's a shame we've lost the Stevenage derby for this season, although I'm sure we'll be playing them against next year! But Pompey away in the Carling Cup should be a good one”.

Bradford City

Tim Roche – Twitter

“After the debacle of last season, when the hapless Peter Taylor very nearly led City into non-league, a mid-table finish would represent an improvement. New boss Peter Jackson has brought in a varied selection of youngsters and a couple of more experienced heads, so while the play-offs may just be beyond us in what is likely to be a transitional season, a finish of 9th place would be acceptable. This being our 4th season in League 2, our fans are now more accustomed to the reality that promotion might not always be a realistic target.

 Ross Hannah banged in a staggering 52 goals for Matlock Town last season, so it will be interesting to see how he fares in the step up to League 2 football. Mark Stewart, a striker from Falkirk, has also looked impressive in pre-season so City will be very hopeful of improving on last term’s dismal goals scored tally. Of the youngsters we have signed, the 16 year old Scott Brown from Clyde looks to be the most exciting prospect. Although he was brought in with the newly formed Development Squad in mind initially, there is every chance we will see him in the first team sooner rather than later as Jackson rates him as the ‘one of the best 16 years olds (he has) seen in a long time’. No pressure then!

 With the majority of League 2 teams being southern-based there will be some lengthy away trips for the City faithful. AFC Wimbledon should be a particular highlight, as away days in the capital are always fun and it’s a new ground to visit. There’s also the Carling Cup tie away to our dear friends Leeds United to look forward to in the first week of the season – it would be nice to get one over on them, especially as the game will be live on Sky”.

Bristol Rovers

Richard Crew – Twitter

“As it’s Bristol Rovers first Season back in League Two it’s hard to tell, but pre-season has gone well and I've got a lot of confidence in Mr Buckles ability. The signings we've made appear to be sound and the vibes coming out are positive so I have a sneaky suspicion we'll make the play-offs or better if everything gels quickly.

Gill, Zebroski, Virgo, Carayol and McGleish will be the key figures to look out for. I believe we'll be a team that entertains; Mr Buckle has an eye for attacking football judging by the signings and tactics he's employed so far.

AFC Wimbledon stands out for me as the big one, not because of any rivalry but simply because of Wimbledon’s history. I feel it’s an honour to be the club they play first on their League return. I hope it’s a classic for the present Sky Cameras. Of course the Derby games against Swindon, Hereford, Cheltenham and Torquay will hold some added spice as well”.