Stalemate at Alexandra Stadium

Article by Bradford City Correspondent Timothy Feather

Crewe Alexandra 0-0 Bradford City -att. 5,428 (1,371 away)

A great away following from Bradford travelled to Crewe for what we all knew was going to be a tight game and a very competitive one. The day didn’t get off to the best of starts for the Bantams with the team coach getting caught up in traffic on the M6 which gave the team less than an hour to prepare for the match. Like the rest of the country the weather wasn’t ideal on Saturday where swirling winds dominated most of the match.

Bradford arrived at Crewe after a tough run of games against Tranmere, Crawley, Preston and Wolves where performances were good but results just didn’t go our way. City were trying to put behind them a run of four games without a win and without a clean sheet since Walsall on the 5th October. There was an early scare for City when Max Clayton shot wide of Jon McLaughlin’s goal.

Bradford City have struggled to score of late having only scored three in the last four games where the story has been of missed chances. It was another day where Bradford players will have thought they deserved more. Nathan Doyle’s shot from a neat lay off by James Hanson was deflected back into the striker’s path and Hanson failed to hit the target from what was a good chance. The chance of the game came when Hanson placed one of his headers into the bottom corner only to see Alex keeper Martin Alan pull off a stunning stop to keep the score level.

Crewe had their own chances and their best chance came from a Harry Davis freekick that forced McLaughlin to pull off a full stretch to force the first 0-0 result in 54 games at the Alexandra Stadium. It was never going to be an easy game as both teams were trying to bounce back from tough runs in the league. Some City fans are disappointed that we didn’t manage to score past the team with the worst goal difference in the league, this probably drove Crewe more to keep a clean sheet. The Bantams had fifteen shots from the 43% possession, but only five on target. Bradford City manager Phil Parkinson was pleased with a clean sheet and that it is good to get back into that clean sheet mind set. He told the Bradford City website "We needed to get back into the mode of picking up clean sheets again. Despite playing well against Preston North End and Wolves recently, we did concede four goals in those two games. “ 

The plus for Bradford City fans was seeing Nakhi Wells in his first start for over a month and he looked to lack a bit of match sharpness which is to be expected after such a long time watching from the stands. Parkinson said "After missing a few weeks with his injury, he played the second half against Wolves on adrenalin really. Today was harder for him, but he'll benefit from getting this game and from another week's training."

Unfortunately the game was marred by a minority of Crewe fans singing songs about the Bradford City fire in 1985. It is a subject which the people of Bradford are very passionate about and will never forget. A great credit to Crewe though was that the majority of their fans and the club condemned the minority which gets my upmost respect. 

A scoreless draw was probably the right result on the day and an away draw is nothing to be disappointed about. Bradford now get a rest from the league as they try and pick up some of the fantastic cup form that they had last season in a very tough trip to the New York Stadium against Rotherham in the FA Cup. Both teams have a very heated rivalry and it will certainly be one to watch next Saturday.

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