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Match report |
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Swansea City 1 Bradford City 1 | |
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Swansea City 1 Bradford City 1 - Match Report - Nigel Gigg, Pictures by Gary Martin and Andrew Thomas
 Bradford had ex Premiership Dean Windass and Danny Cadamarteri in attack and Dave Weatherall at the heart of defence. Side- Gueret, Ricketts, Monk, Austin, Williams, Britton, Tate, Martinez, Robinson, Fallon, Knight. Subs- Murphy, McDonald, Forbes, McLeod, Akinfenwa. Swans started brightly with excellent runs down the left, firstly by Tom Williams and then Andy Robinson. Swans were playing some nice football on a greasy surface and there were early signs of a better understanding between Leon Knight and Rory Fallon.  Bradford had their first chance after 15 minutes when ex Celtic Bobby Petta was given far too much time and room on the left wing. His cross was headed wide by veteran striker Windass. A minute later and there was a double take at the other end with Rory Fallon heading just over the bar from 8 yards out. With 24 minutes gone Tom Williams again provided an excellent cross from the left. The ball was missed by both Rory Fallon and his marker at the near post and fell perfectly to Leon Knight just 6 yards out. He was caught out by Fallon's miss and was unable to get any power or direction on his header. Leon Knight almost made amends bringing an excellent save from the giant Donovan Ricketts in the Bradford goal, with a well struck shot from 20 yards.  Bobby Petta again caused Swansea problems with some excellent control on the left and his cross found Dean Windass. Luckily for Swansea, Windass had lost his footing and ended up on his considerable backside and he was unable to get any sort of power into his shot, which was easily saved by Willy Gueret. After playing well for about 25 minutes Swans had again lost their way. The crowd and the players were becoming increasingly frustrated as attack after attack broke down, normally because Swans lacked numbers going forward. With the game deep into first half stoppage time, Swans took the lead. A hopeful ball forward to Rory Fallon was missed by Fallon and his marker and Leon Knight reacted brilliantly, brushing off the challenge of David Weatherall before firing past the keeper from 12 yards to put the Swans 1-0 up.  The second half started as the first had, with Swans dominating possession. You felt that the Swans just needed one more goal to kill off Bradford. Swans were guilty, however, of not turning possession into meaningful attempts at goal and it was Bradford who had the second half's first clear chance when a shot from Bobby Petta was partially saved by Willy and needed Kevin Austin to clear off the line. Swans almost got the goal you felt they needed on the hour. An Andy Robinson corner was flicked on by Alan Tate at the front post and Garry Monk running in had a free header from just 8 yards out. He chose to glance his header rather than go for power and watched his effort sail wide of the post when he really should have hit the target.  On 72 minutes Bradford scored the equaliser. A corner from the right and David Weatherall out jumped everyone around him and powered his header into the corner of the net. It was the simplest of goals and one that our centre halves very rarely score. Kenny Jackett made a triple substitution, taking off Leon Britton, Andy Robinson and Rory Fallon and bringing on Adrian Forbes, Kevin McLeod and Adebayo Akinfenwa.  (Penalty Claim Photo) With 10 minutes left, Swans looked to have a good penalty claim turned down when Adrian Forbes looked to be manhandled to the ground in the area but referee Mr Friend proved to be no friend of the Swans in turning down the appeals. Leon Knight and Alan Tate went close with good efforts as Swans showed the urgency that had been missing for the middle hour of the game. Swans were unable to find the winner and so drop another 2 points at home against another mid table side.  Tonight, admittedly with a makeshift side, we battled hard but lacked the flowing football that was such a feature earlier in the season. Whilst Roberto Martinez and Alan Tate provide a solid base in midfield, the pairing offers us very little going forward. Ratings- Gueret 7- Quiet game and little chance with goal. Ricketts 6 - Did Ok, but always seems better going forward on the left. Monk 7 - Missed a glorious chance but did well in defence against both Cadamarteri and Windass. Austin 6 - Came back from injury and let nobody down. Williams 7- Very good first half but didn't get forward as much after the break. Britton 6 - Not Leon's best game. Martinez 7- Pick of the midfield. Tate 6- Solid game, but offers us little going forward. Robinson 6- Much quieter game than usual. Fallon 6- We are still not getting the best from him, and until we play with a bit more width we are not likely to. Knight 7 - Took his goal very well. Subs- Forbes 6- Plenty of effort but little cutting edge. McLeod 6- Looked much more interested than of late. Akinfenwa 7- Gave Weatherall more to worry about in 20 minutes than he had in the previous 70 minutes.     Stats from BBC Swansea: Gueret, Ricketts, Austin, Williams, Monk, Tate, Martinez, Britton (Forbes 75), Robinson (McLeod 76), Knight, Fallon (Akinfenwa 76). Subs Not Used: Murphy, MacDonald. Goals: Knight 45. Bradford: Ricketts, Holloway, Stewart, Wetherall, Bower, Bridge-Wilkinson, Schumacher, Penford, Petta (Emanuel 78), Windass, Cadamarteri. Subs Not Used: Howarth, Kearney, Claridge, Bentham. Booked: Petta, Holloway, Cadamarteri, Schumacher. Goals: Wetherall 72. Att: 11,028 Ref: K Friend (Leicestershire).
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