Tuesday 25 August 2009
totesport.com League East
Bradford City 0
Lincoln City 1 (Adams 47)
Kick Off: 7.00pm
at the Coral Windows Stadium

Bradford City Reserves fell to a narrow defeat at the hands of Lincoln City in their first league fixture of the season.

A solitary strike from Lincoln's young striker Nathan Adams mid-way through the second half meant the Bantams made a losing start to their totesport.com League East campaign.

City's line up for the match included striker Michael Boulding, who partnered his brother Rory up front.

Matthew Clarke, who was scheduled to start, was forced to withdraw due to illness, meaning second year apprentice Ryan Harrison was promoted from the bench to replace Clarke in the starting line up.

Curtis Collantine

Tricky winger Daniel Douglas-Pringle was given another chance to impress after an appearance against Middlesbrough. Douglas-Pringle is currently on trial from Hyde United.

Former Bantam Scott Kerr was the stand out name from the Lincoln team sheet. The Red Imps skipper was making his comeback from an injury suffered during the first team fixture between the two teams a week ago.

The Lincoln squad also featured six other members of the squad that travelled to the Coral Windows Stadium seven days ago, including veteran goalkeeper Paul Musselwhite.

Despite a promising start from the Bantams, it was Lincoln who created a golden opportunity to take an early lead in the match.

A Lincoln corner was mis-judged by Jon McLaughlin, allowing striker Nathan Adams to head the ball back into the danger area. Lenell John-Lewis was the first to react to Adams' header and jabbed the ball goalwards and luckily for the Bantams, Collantine was on the line to clear.

The first knockings of the match were frantic and high paced, leading to mistakes from both sides as possession of the ball quickly switched from one side to another.

Rory Boulding

A combination of one such mistake and good closing down from Rory Boulding created a decent opening for the Bantams.

The ball appeared to be heading away for a goal kick, but Boulding managed to out muscle and out manoeuvre Lincoln defender Kieran Heap and set up Luke Sharry, whose shot whistled just wide of Musselwhite's goal.

Lincoln responded with opportunities of their own through attempts from John-Lewis and Andrew Hutchinson, both of which were comfortably dealt with by McLaughlin.

McLaughlin was called upon again minutes later as he was forced to make a smart save down to his right to stop a snap shot from Adams.

A clever run by Douglas-Pringle presented Michael Boulding with a good chance to open the scoring, unfortunately for the Bantams, Musselwhite was quick to save at the feet of Boulding and clear the danger.

Musselwhite replicated the act moments later as again Michael Boulding found himself with a goal scoring opportunity. A long ball from Jonathan Bateson deceived defender Kern Miller, allowing Boulding to sneak in on goal. Musselwhite was quick to advance out of his goal and smothered the ball bravely at the striker's feet.

Louis Horne and Jon McLaughlin

Lee Bennett created the next bright moment of the match, when his mazy run past a couple of Bantams defenders allowed him to time and space in the City box.

Bennett's shot was precise, but McLaughlin managed to turn the effort away with the faintest of touches.

Michael Boulding tried to test Musselwhite again minutes before half time, but saw his free kick just creep past the keepers far post.

Bantams' keeper McLaughlin produced another eye catching save as he saved low to his left from a John-Lewis strike, while from their next attack, City nearly broke the deadlock via a scramble in the Lincoln penalty area involving Luke Dean and Michael Boulding.

In the opening moments of the second half, Hutchinson stung the hands of McLaughlin with a rasping effort, before turning provider for what would prove to be the match winning goal.

Hutchinson slipped a fine through ball to strike partner Adams, who saw his first effort stopped by McLaughlin, but was on hand to tap home the rebound into an unguarded net.

Louis Horne and Luke Sharry

A couple of minutes later the Boulding brothers combined in an effort to get the Bantams back in the match. Michael crossed for Rory, who's header was firm but could only send the ball over the bar from a promising position.

McLaughlin again denied the impressive Hutchinson from getting his name of the score sheet just before the hour mark. A cross by defender Danny Hone was flicked on by Sam Clucas for Hutchinson, whose half-volley was well repelled by McLaughlin.

The Bouldings combined again for City's next opportunity, with this time Rory supplying his older brother with the ammunition, unfortunately Michael could only shoot narrowly wide while under pressure from Hone.

As the match entered the final 20 minutes, the Bantams upped their tempo in an attempt to restore parity, but Lincoln were proving tough to break down.

Efforts from Rory Boulding and Luke Dean narrowly missed the target as City went in search of an equaliser.

With ten minutes to go, there was a proud moment for young Dominic Rowe. The diminutive first year apprentice made his debut at reserve level as a replacement for Dean.

Michael Boulding

This was due to an earlier clash between Dean and Lincoln defender Miller. Both players went into a tackle which resulted in pair having to leave the field. With Lincoln having made all three subs, it meant they would play out the final minutes with only ten players.

Leon Osborne tried to make the numerical advantage count, as he beat Heap and substitute Ryan Limb to the ball just inside the Lincoln box. Osborne's effort was a testing one, but Musselwhite managed to push the ball clear.

As the clock ticked towards ninety, another Centre of Excellence product, Elliott Holmes, replaced Osborne. The first year apprentice, like Rowe, was making his reserve level debut.

Three minutes of injury time signalled one last push for the Bantams to rescue something from the match, including McLaughlin coming up field for one final City corner. Despite their efforts, Lincoln managed to hold on and send the home side to defeat.

BRADFORD CITY	LINCOLN CITY
1 Jon McLaughlin	20 Paul Musselwhite
2 Curtis Collantine	2 Kieran Heap
3 Louis Horne	3 Luca Coleman-Carr
4 Luke Sharry	4 Lee Bennett
5 Jonathan Bateson	5 Danny Hone
12 Ryan Harrison	6 Kern Miller
7 Leon Osborne	7 Lenell John-Lewis
8 Luke Dean	8 Scott Kerr
9 Rory Boulding	9 Andrew Hutchinson
10 Michael Boulding	10 Nathan Adams
11 Daniel Douglas-Pringle	11 Sam Clucas
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
	12 Ryan Limb for 9 (74)
13 Chris Elliott	14 Rob Brewer
14 Dominic Rowe for 8 (81)	15 Josh Barker for 8 (64)
15 Ben Hudson	16 Connor Fitzpatrick
16 Elliott Holmes for 7 (87)	17 Jack Thomas for 3 (46)

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	P A Davison
Assistant Referee	M Duncan
Assistant Referee	G Freer
4th Official	A Bowen

GOALSCORERS:
BRADFORD CITY	LINCOLN CITY
	Adams (47)