Date: Saturday 17th September
Time: 3pm
Venue: Broadfield Stadium
Home: Crawley Town
Away: Bradford City.
This weekend the Bantams will face free spending Crawley Town, at the Broadfield Stadium, with both sides looking to bounce back from midweek defeats the game has all the chance of been one for the neutral, Bradford City have added experianced former Premiership hitman Craig Fagan to their ranks tonight (15/9/11) in a signing that will have raised more than a few eyebrows, meanwhile Crawley have brought in a couple of their own new faces with Ipswich Town loanee Adam Drury joinging The Red Devils on a 93day loan and also the addition of a free agent Claude Davis a former Derby County and Crystal Palace star.
The Red Devils widely tipped as a hot bet for promotion this year have made a good start to life in League football, however, with a mixed bag of results in there last three results, Crawley will surely want to seal a win after two heavy defeats in the last few days, the Red Devils, have seen the following three results:
Saturday 3rd September
CRAWLEY 4-1 Bristol Rovers
Barnett(2) Brown
Smith
Tubbs
An impressive win by all accounts against a decent looking recently relegated Rovers outfit, a brace from leading tallysman Barnett who looks a formidabble force at early doors for Crawley.
This impressive win was followed by two consecutive heavy defeats,
Saturday 10th September
Morecambe 6-0 Crawley
Carlton(3)
Fenton
Ellison
Wilson (Pen)
A thrashing from the early league leaders Morecambe will have done the Crawley defenders confidence no good whatsoever, with former City loanee Ellison getting himself on the scoresheet in the process.
Tuesday 13th September
CRAWLEY 0-3 Swindon
Connell
Kerrouche (2)
Another heavy defeat for the Red Devils saw them drop to 8th in the league on 13 points, Di Canio who is perhaps famously remembered by Bradford fans for his protests in the 9 goal thriller at Upton park in the clubs premier league years, heaped a reality check onto last season Blue Square Premier league and free spending Crawley with a thumping 3-0 victory including a magnificent brace from Kerrouche.
Bradford City whom though have not yet taken three points under new gaffer Parko have made improvemenets, but rearguard is a must for city who have shipped in 6 goals in just three games.
The Bantams last three are as follows
Saturday 3rd September
Morecambe 1-1 BRADFORD
Reid Hannah
An impressive draw for Parkinson men against table toppers Morecambe, with former Matlock Town goal machine pinching a point for the Bantams in the 93rd miniute with a neatly taken volley from inside the area, Morecambe went onto embarass Bradford's opponenets Crawley the following game 6-0
Saturday 10th September
BRADFORD 2-2 Bristol Rovers
Flynn (2 Pens) Harrold
Richard
In a game that fans and plaudits alike stated Bradford deserved to take all three from this game the Bantams had to yet again rely on a last gasp equaliser this time from the spot from Michael Flynn who kept his nerve to slot into the top left hand corner in the dieing seconds of the match, Rovers are a team who Crawley put to the sword with a heavy 4-1 victory for the Red Devils.
Tuesday 13th September
Port Vale 3-2 BRADFORD
Taylor (2) Devitt
Pope Jones
In a cruel twist of fate for the Bantams fans after two consecutive last gasp saves they found themselves on the receiving end of a late late winner from former Rotherham man Tom Pope who put the Bantams to the sword live on sky with a brace last season stroke again to end the Bantams unbeaten streak under Parkinson.
CRAWLEY TOWN:
Top Scorers (League only)
Tubbs 4
Barnett 4
Akpan (joint) 1
BRADFORD CITY
Top Socrers (League only)
Hanson 3
Flynn 2
Hannah 2
With eight goals between the Red Devils two centre forwards Branston and his likely partner of Oliver at centre half will really have to put in a shift to keep the mean combination of Tubbs and Barnett at bay, Oliver who has looked a new player since the departure of former boss Peter Taylor will be putting a real shift to ensure fan faviourate Steve Williams does not snatch his place from his graps, as i'm sure will skipper Branston.
Crawley have also got the daunting task of facing the 6'4'' James Hanson who could potentially be partnered by new addition Craig Fagan who with an impressive CV will surely have the Devils defence panicing come Friday evening.
Onwards & Upwards City, lets have the three.
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Welcome to Bradford!
I along with all other Bradford City supporters i'm sure would like to say a very warm welcome to former Premier League hitman Craig Fagan!
A mastermind bit of business from former Charlton boss Phil Parkinson, Fagan enjoyed stints in the top tier of English football playing for Hull City & Derby County.
The former Hull man, Fagan signed the dotted line after prolonged medical testing at Valley Parade, though having had a torrid time with Injuries of late the capture of Fagan for the Bantams will surely send shudders down the spines of League two defenders!
Will the signing be a success, I certanily hope so, but as they say, only time will tell.
A full prematch review of the Bantams away fixture against Crawley Town will be made available for you all at around 10pm this evening.
Thanks for reading, Joe.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
First 'mobile' blog
Just to let the people whom are interested enough to check my blog (not many i'd imagine at this early stage) I've downloaded the 'Google Blogger' Android application so I can give you my opinion as it transpires on news breaking from the club.
Thanks to my first 6 viewers of the blog, onwards and upwards for Coty and the Blog, though I will quite happily sacrifice the success of my blog!
Anyway ladies & gents i'm going to have a nap before an early start for work, Good night!
Crawley on Saturday!
Well this was certanily last second planning at it's very best, only yesterday (13th September) did I find out my seat was confirmed thanks to the 'BCFC South Bradford' supporters, so myself and a friend pushed ourselves to take the last two seats!
Anyway, to the Preview, Bradford have been showing signs of improvement of late, but just seem to need to tighten themselves up at the back, with the young Moore been the shining star of the back four this season, the more experianced heads need to be the ones setting the example for him, Branston looks a force to be dealth with in the air, however, sadly his on the ground ability has seen the Bantams many keepers (THREE to date) be put under pressure at times in the early stages of this season, the 6'7'' Luke Oliver has looked a different player to last season and has been putting some brilliant shifts in for the Bantams thus far, but again without Steve Williams in the side the two hurly centre halves struggle to keep up with quick strikers and finally at left back, the Scouser Robbie Threlfall whose put in some good shifts from what I've seen of him this year but it all boils down to the debate between fans of 'O'B or Robbie' both have their own qualities, I don't see why Robbie should be dropped as stated early he has shown he is a more than capable left back in this division and is a big threat with his attacking freekicks and corners something he offers ahead of Luke O'Brien, Though I don't see any reason to drop Threlfall from the starting XI I think he has alot more ability than he has shown at this early stage of the season, but with 6 goals shipped in at the back for the Bantams already this year, it is something that needs to be worked on by Parkinson and his staff on the training ground.
Back to the subject in hand, the daunting task of a recently humiliated free spending Crawley Town, remember, these boys spent £500,000 on one striker in non league last season, a sizable fee for most Championship teams (barring LCFC).
Crawley suffered a massive defeat at table toppers Morcambe on their travels recently with a 6-0 thumping by the Shrimps, a side Bradford City played the week before and pulled a last second equaliser out of the bag with former Matlock Town goal machine Ross Hannah with a neatly taken volley from inside the area in the 93rd min, a great moment for the 25 year old, who seemed to love the moment judging by his 'Tweets'
There is no doubting that Crawley Town will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, but in the near future the Bantams will have to show some brilliant rearguard to ensure that they can keep the likes of the 500 grand man Matt Tubbs at bay. After Jones' netted his first goal for City midweek in a gallant effort against a strong Valiants side him an Michael Flynn could prove vital if the Bantams want to take all three points from Town this weekend, the engine room will have to be in over ride in the centre of the park to help with breaking up play to ease the pressure of Cities back four. The rumours of a new striker coming in seemed to inpire Hanson to get more into the game on Tuesday against Port Vale who though missing a few good chances managed to get himself in good areas take the shots on, hopefully, this added pressure will prove a turning point for Hanson who after his debut season in the Football League will be wanting show the Bantams faithful what he is really capable of, the pressure of Ross Hannah breathing down his neck can only serve well for the big centre forward aswell, so with whats been a good in signs of improvement for Phil Parkinson since taking charge of the Bantams but disappointing in terms of results the added pressure and a few good performances from key players should see the Bantams take something from the game, here is hoping for all three, but going to a strong Crawley side away from home is not going to be an easy task for the players by any means, so lets all get behind the side and push them onto take the three, and hopefully take the lead first!
Feel free to take predictions on the scoreline for Saturday, I'm going a 1-1 draw with a goal from Luke Oliver.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, any feedback would be much appreciated as you can probably tell this is my first attempt at a blog, comments or messages will be appreciated, thanks again!
Anyway, to the Preview, Bradford have been showing signs of improvement of late, but just seem to need to tighten themselves up at the back, with the young Moore been the shining star of the back four this season, the more experianced heads need to be the ones setting the example for him, Branston looks a force to be dealth with in the air, however, sadly his on the ground ability has seen the Bantams many keepers (THREE to date) be put under pressure at times in the early stages of this season, the 6'7'' Luke Oliver has looked a different player to last season and has been putting some brilliant shifts in for the Bantams thus far, but again without Steve Williams in the side the two hurly centre halves struggle to keep up with quick strikers and finally at left back, the Scouser Robbie Threlfall whose put in some good shifts from what I've seen of him this year but it all boils down to the debate between fans of 'O'B or Robbie' both have their own qualities, I don't see why Robbie should be dropped as stated early he has shown he is a more than capable left back in this division and is a big threat with his attacking freekicks and corners something he offers ahead of Luke O'Brien, Though I don't see any reason to drop Threlfall from the starting XI I think he has alot more ability than he has shown at this early stage of the season, but with 6 goals shipped in at the back for the Bantams already this year, it is something that needs to be worked on by Parkinson and his staff on the training ground.
Back to the subject in hand, the daunting task of a recently humiliated free spending Crawley Town, remember, these boys spent £500,000 on one striker in non league last season, a sizable fee for most Championship teams (barring LCFC).
Crawley suffered a massive defeat at table toppers Morcambe on their travels recently with a 6-0 thumping by the Shrimps, a side Bradford City played the week before and pulled a last second equaliser out of the bag with former Matlock Town goal machine Ross Hannah with a neatly taken volley from inside the area in the 93rd min, a great moment for the 25 year old, who seemed to love the moment judging by his 'Tweets'
There is no doubting that Crawley Town will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, but in the near future the Bantams will have to show some brilliant rearguard to ensure that they can keep the likes of the 500 grand man Matt Tubbs at bay. After Jones' netted his first goal for City midweek in a gallant effort against a strong Valiants side him an Michael Flynn could prove vital if the Bantams want to take all three points from Town this weekend, the engine room will have to be in over ride in the centre of the park to help with breaking up play to ease the pressure of Cities back four. The rumours of a new striker coming in seemed to inpire Hanson to get more into the game on Tuesday against Port Vale who though missing a few good chances managed to get himself in good areas take the shots on, hopefully, this added pressure will prove a turning point for Hanson who after his debut season in the Football League will be wanting show the Bantams faithful what he is really capable of, the pressure of Ross Hannah breathing down his neck can only serve well for the big centre forward aswell, so with whats been a good in signs of improvement for Phil Parkinson since taking charge of the Bantams but disappointing in terms of results the added pressure and a few good performances from key players should see the Bantams take something from the game, here is hoping for all three, but going to a strong Crawley side away from home is not going to be an easy task for the players by any means, so lets all get behind the side and push them onto take the three, and hopefully take the lead first!
Feel free to take predictions on the scoreline for Saturday, I'm going a 1-1 draw with a goal from Luke Oliver.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, any feedback would be much appreciated as you can probably tell this is my first attempt at a blog, comments or messages will be appreciated, thanks again!
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