Wednesday 20 July 2005
Pre-Season Friendly
Bury 0
Bradford City 1 (Sandos 15)
Kick Off: 7.30pm
at Gigg Lane

It has been an eventful few days for Freddy Sandos.

Last week the Angolan international striker was wearing a Leeds United shirt and playing in Norway.

At Bury his shirt was of the claret and amber variety and he scored.

Maybe Gigg Lane was not such a glamorous location, but Sandos seized the opportunity to make an impression on City and Colin Todd.

Such is the life of a trialist, the 24-year old had no time to sulk about not getting the nod with Leeds after playing in both games on their Scandinavian tour.

Instead, Sandos was meeting yet another set of team-mates early in the afternoon before diving headfirst into a match.

Sandos had set up a goal with virtually his last Leeds kick against Stavanger IF on Saturday.  But he went one better at Bury by netting the only goal with a downward header after a clever link-up with Andy Cooke.

He played until half-time and convinced Todd that he is worth looking at for longer.

The City boss was also happy with his first glimpse in a match of Jamie McMaster, whose stay at Elland Road may have been far longer but proved equally fruitless.

Todd replaced one trialist with another at the break, with McMaster starting up front before dropping into centre midfield when Lee Crooks limped off to protect his groin.

He went off as a precaution as Todd took no chances. Darren Holloway (calf) and Steven Schumacher (shoulder) were left at home, although the newly-contracted midfielder should be all right to face Middlesbrough on Saturday.

In Holloway's absence, John Swift got the full 90 minutes along with Russell Howarth, Lewis Emanuel and the excellent Marc Bridge-Wilkinson.

Mr Versatility had one half on the right and the other in the middle as Todd once again played midfield musical chairs.

It is going to be a tough choice deciding who is best to go where when the music stops at Hartlepool United on 6 August.

Bridge-Wilkinson's game is starting to pick up toward's last term's levels and he was a whisker away from capping his performance with his third pre-season goal after a long-range screamer thudded against the post.

And late on, a one-two with Danny Cadamarteri carved open the Bury ranks but Bridge-Wilkinson was thwarted by a fine save from Neil Edwards.

Bridge-Wilkinson's display will have delighted Colin Todd, but he wasn't so happy with a few of the others - in particular Bobby Petta, who looked sluggish on the left flank.

There were also too many displaced passes, particularly in the first half, as City got sloppy on the ball.

Maybe it is a mid pre-season malaise, but Todd made it clear in the dressing room that he will not allow anybody to take their foot off the pedal.

Talking to the Telegraph & Argus he said: "They are probably looking at it and thinking it's too easy.

"But that is no excuse and we have to play with more enthusiasm and purpose.

"There is no excuse to give the ball away when you are not under pressure. We were not passing well enough, things were breaking down and it gets frustrating."

With Dean Windass given a breather on the bench, Cooke and Sandos played pretty well up front together for a pair of comparative strangers.

There was ceratinly an understanding between them as the Angolan peeled away from his marker to bury Cooke's floating cross after 15 minutes.

Sandos was then denied a quickfire second goal by a last-ditch tackle from Paul Scott, but there were few other incidents of note in an ordinary first 45 minutes.

Todd changed six players at the break including both centre halves, who were replaced by youngsters Craig Bentham and Jake Wright.

Bury rarely looked like unsettling the understudies, although Allan Smart should have directed his free header on target nine minutes into the half.

The home side's only serious threat came from substitute Stuart Barlow.

The former Everton hitman had been on the pitch for only 30 seconds when the ball popped up invitingly for him inside the City box.

He hit a sweet volley towards the near post but Russell Howarth, who again saw very little action, was fully alert to the danger and superbly tipped the ball away.

The rest of the chances fell to City. As well as Bridge-Wilkinson twice going close, Ben Muirhead and Danny Forrest both burst through but could not find the finsih to match their excellent runs.

Bury:
Edwards, Scott (Hitchen), Challinor, Woodthorpe (Hardiker),  Whaley, Mattis (Sedgemore), Flitcroft (Unsworth) (Barrow), Barry-Murphy, Kennedy, Smart (Barlow), Young (Adams).
Subs: Dootson.

Bradford City:
Howarth, Swift, Emanuel, Kearney (Morrison), Wetherall (Wright), Bower (Bentham), Bridge-Wilkinson, Crooks (Cadarmarteri), Cooke (McMaster), Sandos, (Forrest), Petta (Muirhead).
Subs: Windass, Saynor.

Attendance: 646 (90 Bradford City)