totesport.com League East
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Rotherham United 2 (Pope 52, Darley 89)
Bradford City 0
Kick Off: 7.00pm
at the Don Valley Stadium

Irishman James O'Brien marked St Patrick's Day by returning to Bradford colours for the first time since early January as the Bantams reserves travelled to the Don Valley Stadium

Unfortunately City were unable to call upon any luck of the Irish as O'Brien and his team-mates fell to defeat against Rotherham United in the totesport.com League East.

Two second half Millers goals was enough to defeat a Bantams side that included 17 year old striker Daniel Hawkins.

The striker, who is on trial from Middlesbrough, battling gamely throughout, but was didn't receive enough of the ball to allow him to make a greater impression.

After an largely uneventful opening, Rotherham's Abdulai Bell-Baggie was the player on the evening to first to trouble either keeper.

Bell-Baggie found himself in a promising position inside the box, but his weak shot was easily held by Matthew Convey.

When it came, the Bantams first chance of the night fell to the youngster Hawkins.

A teasing through pass by Luke Sharry released the lone striker into a gap between the two Millers centre halves.

As Jamie Annerson emerged from his goal to try and close the angle down, Hawkins produced a clever lob from outside the Rotherham area that unfortunately landed just too long as it fell onto the top of the net.

After a bright opening stint, James O'Brien nearly spoiled his evening due to a petty tangle with Gary Roberts.

O'Brien was penalised for a late tackle on Roberts, before the Irishman made matters worse by blasting the ball against the Rotherham midfielder's legs.

The former Birmingham trainee managed to stay on the pitch despite this, at the cost of a yellow card.

Moments later, Tom Pope was inches wide from handing Rotherham the lead as his angled drive rolled just wide of Convey's far post.

Rotherham's experienced line up were beginning to flex their muscles as the half wore on, with the home side placing the Bantams under lengthly spells of pressure.

During one such period, Convey had to be alert to keep out a close range effort from Taiwo Atieno with a smart reflex save.

Convey was called upon again just before the half hour mark as he powered over a forceful drive from Bell-Baggie after the Rotherham winger had burst through the Bantams defences.

The Bantams were trying to impose themselves and get numbers forward in support of Hawkins.

A brave run from Andrew Villermann nearly created an opportunity for the Bantams, but the left back's low cross was smashed away as Steven O'Leary waited to pounce on the edge of the six yard box.

With time rapidly ticking towards half time, Luke Sharry then fired an angled drive just wide of Annerson's far post from the edge of the area.

The Bantams started the second period started with plenty of effort and commitment on display, but little in the way of goal mouth action to show for it.

In fact, it was Convey who had his heart in his mouth about five minutes into the second period when Atieno charged down his attempted clearance.

The ball bounced back off the striker's leg and headed towards goal, thankfully though, Convey managed to win the foot race with Atieno and claim the loose ball.

There was nothing the Bantams keeper could do moments later however as the Millers took the lead.

Pope found the ball at his feet barely eight yards from goal, allowing the big striker to stroke home into the bottom corner past the motionless Convey.

The goal seemed to full the home side with confidence as they buzzed forward on several occasions thereafter.

Convey was in the right place to claim a Atieno header, before Pope struck the sidenetting from a tight angle as the Millers looked for more goals.

With his fitness levels understandably lower than most of his team-mates given his recent spell on the sidelines, James O'Brien was replaced by apprentice Ryan Harrison just past the hour mark.

Leading the line on his own, Hawkins was mainly forced to feed off straps for most of the evening.

The Middlesbrough youngster did find himself in position to twice test Annerson in quick succession though mid-way through the second period.

Both times, Hawkins managed to wriggle free inside the Rotherham penalty area, but both times Annerson was up to the task to keep his side's lead intact.

Harrison was certainly making an impact since his arrival from the subs bench. One run in particular saw the left winger breeze past three red shirts before his run was halted by David Haggerty inside the area.

There were some polite appeals for a penalty from the Bantams bench, but referee Drysdale waved play on.

Minutes later, Bell-Baggie unleashed a fiery piledriver that stuck the support post behind the goal with some venom.

Moments after coming on, Rotherham sub, Grant Darley, put the match beyond the Bantams as he finished with aplomb past Convey from the edge of the area.

With only two further minutes of the match taking place, it gave City little chance to response as they fell to defeat.

ROTHERHAM UNITED	BRADFORD CITY
1 Jamie Annerson	1 Matthew Convey
2 Jamie Green	2 Phil Cutler
3 Gavin Gunning	3 Andrew Villermann
4 Pablo Mills	4 Steven O'Leary
5 David Heggerty	5 Steve Williams
6 Gary Roberts	6 Louis Horne
8 Micky Cummins	7 Luke Sharry
9 Tom Pope	8 Rory Carson
10 Taiwo Atieno	9 Daniel Hawkins
11 Ryan Taylor	10 James O'Brien
12 Abdulai Bell-Baggie	11 Luke Dean
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
7 Jacob Webster	12 Ryan Harrison for 10 (62)
14 Grant Darley for 8 (87)	13 Jon McLaughlin
15 Ollie Banks for 6 (73)	14 Oliver Forsyth
16 Mitch Austin for 3 (73)	15 Adam Robinson
17 Daniel Hancock	16 Alex Flett

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	D Drysdale
Assistant Referee	M Duncan
Assistant Referee	R J Earl
Assistant Referee

GOALSCORERS:
ROTHERHAM UNITED	BRADFORD CITY
Pope (52)
Darley (89)