Tuesday 27 October 2009
totesport.com League East
Bradford City 3 (Osborne 4, R Boulding 56, N Clarke 66)
Leeds United 3 (Payne 6, Falkingham 62, 73 )
Kick Off: 2.00pm
at the Coral Windows Stadium

Bradford City reserves secured their first point of the totesport.com League East season with an entertaining draw against Leeds United at the Coral Windows Stadium.

The Bantams took the lead three times in the match, only to be pegged back by their close neighbours on each occasion.

City broke the deadlock as early as the fourth minute through Leon Osborne, before Sanchez Payne almost immediately equalised for the visitors.

Bantams strikers Rory Boulding and Nathan Clarke twice helped City re-take the lead in the second period, only for two impressive strikes from Joshua Falkingham to haul Leeds level both times.

Falkingham's second strike of the match would ultimately earn his side a share of the spoils as honours remained even in this West Yorkshire clash.

Bantams defender Matthew Clarke skippered the second string for the visit of Leeds, though he would only last 45 minutes after being substituted at half time.

Young midfielder Rory Carson received another 85 minutes under his belt as he worked his way back to full fitness following his fractured metatarsal injury.

Within the first minute of the fixture, the Bantams went agonisingly close to opening the scoring.

A Carson cross was teed up by Boulding for the on-rushing Luke Sharry, who proceeded to rattle the foot of Alex Cairns' far post with a stinging drive.

Bradford would go one better minutes later to opening the scoring in the match.

Boulding released Leon Osborne into space inside the Leeds penalty area and his angled drive managed to beat Cairns at his near post, via a deflection off Leeds midfielder Falkingham.

The frantic pace of this match continued as Leeds would hit back almost immediately.

William Hatfield's corner was only cleared by the Bantams' defence as far as Sanchez Payne on the edge of the area. Payne returned the ball with attitude as he beat McLaughlin with a rising shot that flew into the top corner.

McLaughlin was in the action again soon after as he managed to keep out  Aidan White's left-footed effort after the full back had worked his way into the Bantams penalty area.

City responded as Nathan Clarke's fierce close range strike forced Cairns into a sharp reaction save.

Chances kept coming thick and fast as Boulding slotted in Ryan Harrison with only Cairns to beat. The Bantams apprentice steadied himself, but the Leeds keeper stood tall to block Harrison's effort and clear the danger.

The Bantams received a stroke of luck in the 17th minute, when Payne's shot deflected off the head of Phil Cutler. The deflection had wrong-footed McLaughlin, leaving the Bantams keeper helpless as he watched the ball just sail over his crossbar.

From Bradford's next attack Osborne fed Sharry in space just outside the Leeds penalty area. Unfortunately for the Bantams and Sharry, the midfielder couldn't quite get hold of his shot correctly as his effort sailed all the way over the empty TL Dallas Stand.

The Bantams defence were nearly caught out by the efforts of Leeds full back Liam Darville. The young right back ran unopposed from his own half before narrowly missing the far bottom corner of McLaughlin's goal with a low drive from just inside the area.

15 minutes before the half time interval, Curtis Collantine had to be alert to keep his side on level terms. Leeds defender Adam Watson rose highest to power a Hatfield corner goalwards, only for Collantine to stoop and head his effort off the line.

Carson then tested Cairns reflexes with a fizzing strike, but the Leeds keeper got his body behind the Irishman's shot and saved well.

A deep cross from White caused the City defence problems minutes later. McLaughlin came for the full back's centre, but could only parry it towards Payne.

Payne's instant shot was deflected towards goal by Mike Whitewell, but McLaughlin was up quickly and able to collect the effort.

With the clock ticking towards half time, Leeds spurned a golden opportunity grab the lead of the match.

The visitors were awarded a penalty after poor control by Collantine handed Payne the opportunity to drive into the Bantams penatly area. The young Bantams' defender compounded his error by bringing down Payne as he tried to recover his ground.

Payne picked himself up and took the penalty he had earned, only to see McLaughlin guess the right way and palm his effort away.

From the last attack of the half, the Bantams could have made things worse for Payne and his Leeds team-mates.

A long ball from Osborne suddenly found the Bantams facing a two on one situation in their favour as Boulding bore down on the Leeds goal.

His strike-partner, Nathan Clarke was supporting Boulding and unmarked in the visitors penalty box.

To the frustration of Boulding, his attempted pass couldn't find Clarke as Leeds covering defender Watson intercepted the ball and the chance was gone.

David Wetherall made one change at half time as Matthew Clarke did not appear for the second period. The big central defender was replaced by the jet-heeled young winger Dominic Rowe.

This meant a reshuffle for the Bantams as Harrison dropped to left back and Louis Horne took over Clarke's central defensive and captain duties.

A quiet start to the second half was brought to life as the game saw three goals scored in a frantic ten minute period.

Firstly, Boulding found Nathan Clarke in space on the edge of the Leeds area as the visitors defence went to sleep. Clarke's pacey shot was palmed out only as far as Boulding himself, who drove the rebound into the back of the net with venom from only yards out.

Barely five minutes later though and the visitors would once again hit back to draw level for a second time in the match.

Falkingham restored parity in the fixture as he beat McLaughlin from distance with a glorious curling strike.

The goals kept coming at Valley Parade as for a third time, the Bantams would take the lead in the match.

A deep hanging cross from Osborne managed to deceive Cairns, flying over the Leeds keeper's head and striking his far post. The ball would rebound off the upright kindly into the path of Nathan Clarke, who stooped to head into an empty net.

Amazingly for a third time, Leeds engineered themselves back into the match.

Falkingham added to his earlier stunning strike by beating McLaughlin with a fiercly driven shot into the roof of the net, after his free kick from the edge of the area had been deflected back into his path.

Leeds almost found themselves a fourth goal minutes later as Joe McCann's free kick whistled past everyone, missing McLaughlin's far post by mere inches.

With ten minutes remaining Nathan Clarke was replaced by fellow apprentice Oliver Forsyth. The Gateshead born striker has been in red hot form for Wetherall's youth team, scoring eight goals in ten league matches.

Barely moments later, both White and Osborne were perhaps lucky to stay on the field after a brief fraca. The Leeds full back appeared to react badly to a Osborne challenge, resulting in the pair squaring up and exchanging pushes. Both survived with a yellow card and a telling off from the referee.

Carson's afternoon was over after 85 minutes, when the Irishman was replaced by fellow midfielder Alex Flett.

As the match approached its conclusion, McLaughlin produced an important stop to deny James Brooker after the Leeds substitute had found himself in space.

Both sides pushed hard for a winner, with Bantams subs Rowe and Forsyth in particular threatening to find something on the break.

Neither side could find the matches seventh goal however, as this enthralling match ended in a draw.

BRADFORD CITY	LEEDS UNITED
1 Jon McLaughlin	1 Alex Cairns
2 Curtis Collantine	2 Liam Darville
3 Louis Horne	3 Aidan White
4 Luke Sharry	4 Joshua Falkingham
5 Phil Cutler	5 Adam Watson
6 Matthew Clarke	6 Callum Williams
7 Leon Osborne	7 William Hatfield
8 Rory Carson	8 Joe McCann
9 Nathan Clarke	9 Mike Whitewell
10 Rory Boulding	10 James Baxendale
11 Ryan Harrison	11 Sanchez Payne
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
12 Alex Flett for 8 (85)	12 Sam Jones
13 Matthew Convey	14 Joe Martin for 10 (63)
14 Dominic Rowe for 6 (46)	15 Lewis Turner
15 Ben Hudson	16 James Booker for 11 (63)
16 Oliver Forsyth for 9 (80)	17 Johnathan Birbeck

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	M Brown
Assistant Referee	A Moore
Assistant Referee	I Turner
4th Official	S Mercer

GOALSCORERS:
BRADFORD CITY	LEEDS UNITED
Osborne (4)	Payne (6)
R Boulding (56)	Falkingham (62, 73)
N Clarke (66)