A Gray day at London Road: Review of Peterborough United 2-1 Bradford City
Article by Timothy Feather
Attendance 6,597 (816 away)
SkyBet League One
London Road
Bradford City were unlucky to come away from London Road with nothing after a difficult December day at Peterborough. Like many games near the capital on Saturday, the swirling wind and rain had a big part to play in this game. Bradford City set themselves up a little bit differently with a 3-5-2 formation to accommodate the missing James Hanson in the Bradford City squad. Mark Yeates came in to replace James Hanson, with Garry Thompson moving to partner Nahki Wells up front.
For all the tactical re-shuffle and the talk of Assambolonga verses Wells, it was full back, Kgosi Ntlhe who opened the scoring in stunning fashion in the 18th minute. From a set piece the ball looked to be drifting into midfield but Ntlhe picked the ball up and fired home from 30 yards out. It was an unstoppable shot and with the added influence from the swirling wind, McLaughlin in the City goal didn’t stand much of a chance. Parkinson’s reaction to the opening goal was one you would possibly expect when you go behind from a good goal, he told the Official Bradford City website, the "first half was difficult as we were against the elements. Their first goal is something you can do very little about when the lad hits it from that far out.”
It only took the Posh another eight minutes to double their lead through top scorer Assombolonga. He found space on the edge of the area and managed to turn and shoot, McLaughlin didn’t have much chance. Bradford will look back on the goal and believe they should have defended it a little bit better and not given him as much space, which was echoed by Parkinson, "the second goal, however, I felt we could have defended better against, so we gave ourselves an uphill task.” Assombolonga nearly scored again when he was through on goal but his shot was stopped by McLaughlin in the City goal. Bradford had a tough task in the first half which was apparent by only being restricted to half chances in the first half. Gary Jones had the best chance when his shot was struck straight at Olejnik, this would have given City something to chase after half time.
In the second half Bradford went to a 4-4-2 formation and they also had the weather conditions working more in their favour. Andy Gray came on for Garry Thompson and Kyel Reid also came on for Matty Taylor and Bradford came out firing again. It was in the 76th minute that the half-time substitutions paid off, a low cross from Reid was neatly tucked in at the front post by Andy Gray. The veteran striker scored his first goal in fifteen months and it galvanised City to try and get something from the game. Despite this, Peterborough managed to hold on and should probably have scored another in the closing stages but Assombolonga put his shot wide.
Bradford City also saw centre back, Rory McArdle booked for the fifth time this season and he will now have to sit out the tough Yorkshire derby against Rotherham on Boxing Day. Phil Parkinson was not happy with the booking he picked up, “I saw the tackle and Rory clearly won the ball. The yellow card was unbelievable.” Overall, despite Bradford City not walking away with all three points, Bradford can be proud of the effort they put in at London Road. The manager was proud of his team but believes the second goal made the task too much, "I just felt if we could have kept it down to one goal in the first half, we could have got something from the match.“
Bradford City now drop to 9th in the league, five points outside the play-offs, but they can cut that to two should they pick up a win against Rotherham on Boxing Day. Peterborough did what they needed to do and managed to move within touching distance of Brentford who are sitting in third, and move to five points away from the top two.
Peterborough United: Olejnik, Little, Ntlhe, Anderson (Payne- 77’), Bostwick, Brisley, McCann, Newell (Ephraim- 66’), Jeffers (Swanson- 77’), Assombolonga, Tomlin
Unused Subs: Day, Mendez-Laing, Knight-Percival, Barnett
Bradford City: McLaughlin, Darby, Meredith, McArdle, Bates (Connell- 88’), Taylor (Reid- 45’), Doyle, Jones, Wells, Thompson (Gray- 45’), Yeates
Unused Subs: Ripley, Kennedy, Oliver, McHugh
© e-Football 2013 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
SkyBet League One
London Road
Bradford City were unlucky to come away from London Road with nothing after a difficult December day at Peterborough. Like many games near the capital on Saturday, the swirling wind and rain had a big part to play in this game. Bradford City set themselves up a little bit differently with a 3-5-2 formation to accommodate the missing James Hanson in the Bradford City squad. Mark Yeates came in to replace James Hanson, with Garry Thompson moving to partner Nahki Wells up front.
For all the tactical re-shuffle and the talk of Assambolonga verses Wells, it was full back, Kgosi Ntlhe who opened the scoring in stunning fashion in the 18th minute. From a set piece the ball looked to be drifting into midfield but Ntlhe picked the ball up and fired home from 30 yards out. It was an unstoppable shot and with the added influence from the swirling wind, McLaughlin in the City goal didn’t stand much of a chance. Parkinson’s reaction to the opening goal was one you would possibly expect when you go behind from a good goal, he told the Official Bradford City website, the "first half was difficult as we were against the elements. Their first goal is something you can do very little about when the lad hits it from that far out.”
It only took the Posh another eight minutes to double their lead through top scorer Assombolonga. He found space on the edge of the area and managed to turn and shoot, McLaughlin didn’t have much chance. Bradford will look back on the goal and believe they should have defended it a little bit better and not given him as much space, which was echoed by Parkinson, "the second goal, however, I felt we could have defended better against, so we gave ourselves an uphill task.” Assombolonga nearly scored again when he was through on goal but his shot was stopped by McLaughlin in the City goal. Bradford had a tough task in the first half which was apparent by only being restricted to half chances in the first half. Gary Jones had the best chance when his shot was struck straight at Olejnik, this would have given City something to chase after half time.
In the second half Bradford went to a 4-4-2 formation and they also had the weather conditions working more in their favour. Andy Gray came on for Garry Thompson and Kyel Reid also came on for Matty Taylor and Bradford came out firing again. It was in the 76th minute that the half-time substitutions paid off, a low cross from Reid was neatly tucked in at the front post by Andy Gray. The veteran striker scored his first goal in fifteen months and it galvanised City to try and get something from the game. Despite this, Peterborough managed to hold on and should probably have scored another in the closing stages but Assombolonga put his shot wide.
Bradford City also saw centre back, Rory McArdle booked for the fifth time this season and he will now have to sit out the tough Yorkshire derby against Rotherham on Boxing Day. Phil Parkinson was not happy with the booking he picked up, “I saw the tackle and Rory clearly won the ball. The yellow card was unbelievable.” Overall, despite Bradford City not walking away with all three points, Bradford can be proud of the effort they put in at London Road. The manager was proud of his team but believes the second goal made the task too much, "I just felt if we could have kept it down to one goal in the first half, we could have got something from the match.“
Bradford City now drop to 9th in the league, five points outside the play-offs, but they can cut that to two should they pick up a win against Rotherham on Boxing Day. Peterborough did what they needed to do and managed to move within touching distance of Brentford who are sitting in third, and move to five points away from the top two.
Peterborough United: Olejnik, Little, Ntlhe, Anderson (Payne- 77’), Bostwick, Brisley, McCann, Newell (Ephraim- 66’), Jeffers (Swanson- 77’), Assombolonga, Tomlin
Unused Subs: Day, Mendez-Laing, Knight-Percival, Barnett
Bradford City: McLaughlin, Darby, Meredith, McArdle, Bates (Connell- 88’), Taylor (Reid- 45’), Doyle, Jones, Wells, Thompson (Gray- 45’), Yeates
Unused Subs: Ripley, Kennedy, Oliver, McHugh
© e-Football 2013 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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