Saturday 1 August 2009
Pre-Season Friendly
Bradford City 3 (O'Leary 10, Thorne 22, Evans 79)
Carlisle United 3 (Kavanagh 32, Robson 34, Anyinsah 42)
Kick Off: 3.00pm
at the Coral Windows Stadium

Attendance: 1163 (visitors 172)

Stuart McCall warned City they must defend better after three goals in ten minutes spoiled an otherwise positive afternoon.

The Bantams boss had called for more quality on the ball in their final friendly after two mediocre displays in midweek.

And he certainly got it in the opening half-hour as the hosts bossed their Coca-Cola League 1 visitors with some smart build-up play to lead 2-0 in front of a crowd of 1,163 at Valley Parade.

But Carlisle - managed by former City player Greg Abbott - led by half-time thanks to some brilliance from Graham Kavanagh and some sloppy defending.

McCall said: "We can't give goals away like we did last year or concede as many.

"We were the third top-scorers in the league and having to score two or three to win a game.

"You look at the likes of Wycombe, who were winning 1-0, and they get promoted by being strong defensively. So we have got to cut out the errors."

Trialist Steve O'Leary was handed a central-midfield spot after McCall decided against giving former Carlisle player Grant Smith a contract.

The 24-year-old O'Leary - who made 15 appearances for Hereford last season, having previously been at Luton and on loan at Tranmere - looked useful, producing some crisp passsing and popping up with City's opening goal after ten minutes.

The lively Joe Colbeck and Michael Boulding had already gone close and both were involved in the build-up as Colbeck's inviting cross was nodded back into the middle by the striker for O'Leary to volley home from close range.

Peter Thorne - who again wore the captain's armband - made it 2-0 when a corner was whipped in by the impressive Chris Brandon and he converted at the far post past a static defence.

At this stage it was City who looked like they were in the higher division but that soon changed.

Cavanagh, looking every inch a player with Premier League experience, forced a smart save from Simon Eastwood after linking up with former Leeds full back Ian Harte.

But the on-loan keeper had no chance on 32 minutes when the former Wigan player blasted home from just outside the box.

A minute later, Carlisle were level when Matt Clarke sold himself, leaving Matty Robson in acres of space down the left. He was not closed down and was able to place a left-foot shot into the far corner.

The mood flattened even further when Eastwood failed to claim a corner under pressure from Joe Anyinsah and the ball found its way into the net.

The second half was something of an anti-climax but City got the equaliser 11 minutes from time when sub Gareth Evans produced a tidy finish after a speculative effort from Brandon fell into his path.

The new signing from Maccles-field and local lad James Hanson both showed they can offer stiff competition up front when they came on.

Cleveland Taylor flashed a header fraction wide in the last minute but defeat would have been harsh on City.

With no major injury concerns - there was one worrying moment when Clarke needed lengthy treatment after going down clutching his shoulder but he recovered - City can go into their first game with cautious optimism based on this performance.

But McCall will be a lot happier once he has finalised his central midfield options. Having come close to landing Dean Furman and Andy Holdsworth, the No 4 shirt remains up for grabs with less than a week to go before the big kick-off.

He said: "A couple of things that I was hoping would come off might not come off.

"It's frustrating. Believe you me, it's more frustrating from my point of view than it is for anybody else because I am doing work behind the scenes to make things happen.

"We had a lad from the Premier League - although it was not a household name and no one would know him - we liked the look of but at the last minute a League One club came in.

"We are not sitting on our hands idle. I've said all along I needed two central midfielders - one definitely and probably two. But that's what the loan market is there for and I'm sure you'll see in the next couple of weeks a lot of teams using it."

O'Leary - who had been on trial at Crewe - will get another chance to impress in a behind-closed-doors reserve game at Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow.

McCall added: "He's not played much football at all this season but he's a fit lad and only 24. I thought he passed the ball well for us and made a good impression. He has done himself no harm today."

BRADFORD CITY	CARLISLE UNITED
1 Simon Eastwood	40 Lenny Pidgeley
2 Simon Ramsden	2 David Raven
3 Luke O'Brien	5 Danny Livesey
4 Steve O'Leary	7 Joe Anyinsah
5 Zesh Rehman	8 Graham Kavanagh
6 Matthew Clarke	10 Matty Robson
7 Joe Colbeck	11 Paul Thirlwell
8 Lee Bullock	12 Tom Taiwo
9 Michael Boulding	14 Ian Harte
10 Peter Thorne	17 Cleveland Taylor
11 Chris Brandon	21 Richard Keogh
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
12 Steve Williams	1 Adam Collin
13 Jon McLaughlin	6 Peter Murphy
14 Jonathan Bateson	9 Scott Dobie for 7 (73)
15 James O'Brien	15 Gavin Rothery for 11 (84)
16 Gareth Evans for 9 (73)	18 Conor Tinnion
17 James Hanson for 10 (68)	23 Tony Kane
18 Leon Osborne	28 Gary Madine for 8 (80)
19 Luke Sharry	22 Michael Evans for 12 (66)
	3 Evan Horwood

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	N Miller
Assistant Referee	D Markham
Assistant Referee	S Bulmer
4th Official	A Miller

GOALSCORERS:
BRADFORD CITY	CARLISLE UNITED
O'Leary (10)	Kavanagh (32)
Thorne (22)	Robson (34)
Evans (79)	Anyinsah (42)