Yeovil Town 1 Bradford City 0
It was a frustrating encounter at Huish Park as The Bantams went down by a goal to nil against League One’s bottom club Yeovil Town. City were second best in the first half and went behind to Chigozie Ugwu’s tidy finish in the 26th minute. Though City were better in the second half, they just couldn’t find a way past Jed Steer as the hosts held on for only their second home league victory of the season.
The hosts made the better start to the game and had a couple of half chances; Seth Twumasi lashed a shot comfortably over the bar from 25 yards out after Sam Foley had chosen to square the ball to him from a dead ball situation, rather than deliver the ball into the penalty area.
It was a low key opening 45 minutes and City’s first notable opportunity came after Nathan Smith’s poor first touch allowed Jon Stead to get in behind. The frontman opted to square the ball to Billy Knott rather than continue his run and the latter was eventually firmly dispossessed by Twumasi as he was about to pull the trigger.
Shortly after, Chigozie Ugwu gave Gary Johnson’s side the lead; a long ball into the area was flicked into his path and he made no mistake from a tight angle, lashing neatly beyond Jordan Pickford for the opening goal of the game, and a goal that was ultimately to prove decisive.
Sam Foley almost made matters worse for City a few minutes later when he hit an audacious dipping volley towards goal, fortunately though, the ball dropped a yard or so over the bar.
The first effort from The Bantams that made it’s way towards goal came from the unlikely source of Stephen Darby. He played a neat one-two on the edge of the area with Jon Stead but his effort deflected kindly upwards into the path of Jed Steer who made a routine stop.
Though the Bantams failed to get on the scoresheet, they did have chances to put the ball into the Yeovil net but perhaps were guilty of being a tad wasteful. Filipe Morais raced away and found the feet of Stead, the Huddersfield loanee than fed the ball wide to Hanson but not aware he had more time, he hit a tame shot with his weaker right foot, straight at Steer.
City were to have another opportunity before the half was out and it came to Billy Knott; James Meredith found Andy Halliday and then made himself available for the cutback, the Australian full back then hooked a ball towards the far post which was met by the head of Knott but the ball went inches over the bar.
The Bantams made a much brighter start to the second half as they looked to claw their way back into the contest and it was Hanson who had the next big opportunity, and it was a decent one at that. Hanson had put in the work to charge down make-shift centre half Kieffer Moore’s attempted clearance before spreading the ball wide to Stead, Stead then hammered a low cross across the six yard box and Hanson scooped the ball over the bar from close range.
Mark Yeates and Francois Zoko were introduced as second half substitutes and the former tried a trademark run down the left hand side before cutting in onto his right foot, but he then made a mess of his shot, putting it over the bar from 20 yards.
Hanson had another opportunity to get on the scoresheet, though it wasn’t quite a gilt edged opportunity this time. Filipe Morais latched onto Billy Knott’s accurate through ball before crossing the ball into the area, Hanson though could only guide his header a yard or so wide of the far post.
It was all City late on as they tried to force an equaliser. It was by no means a great performance from The Bantams and far from a repeat of the mid-week exploits, but a point would probably have been a fair result, given the chances and general run of play, particularly in the second half.
The last chance of the game was presented to substitute Alan Sheehan deep into injury time after Moore was penalised for a push on Hanson on the edge of the area. The Irishman though stepped up and could only curl his left footed shot a couple of yards wide of the target to leave the Bantams goalless and pointless for the afternoon.