Match Report:
Bradford City 0
Oldham Athletic 1 (Obadeyi 3)
Tuesday 5th December 2017 | Checkatrade Trophy Second Round | Northern Commercials Stadium
The Bantams exited this season's Checkatrade Trophy at the hands of Oldham Athletic on Tuesday evening with Tope Obadeyi's superb strike proving decisive. It took City a while to get into the game and Nicky Law and Paul Taylor's introduction helped to knock on the door for an equaliser late on. Jordan Gibson was arguably the best player on the pitch for the hosts and he should have won his side penalty with virtually the last action of the game.
Obadeyi's goal for the visitors was pretty much the first action of the game and it was a superbly taken goal to give his team the lead. Possesing incredible pace, he burst away from Luke Hendrie down the right-hand side and cut infield onto his left foot before rocketing a low strike into the bottom corner past a helpless Lukas Raeder.
Alex Gilliead had City's first effort in anger shortly before the half hour mark but after weaving his way into the box, he found a small amount of space to get a low shot away which was held onto by Oldham stopper Johny Placide.
Ryan Flynn was one of a number of senior first team players on show for Richie Wellens side and he came a whisker away from doubling his side's lead just after the half hour mark. After engineering his own space, he surged towards the box before lashing a shot just wide of the post from 20 yards with Raeder at full stretch.
Oldham started the game with Eoin Doyle and he went onto play the full 90 minutes. He was kept relatively quiet for the most part of the game but Adam Thompson had to be alert to block his goal bound attempt after City had surrenderd possession in a dangerous part of the field.
Shay McCartan tried to make things happen for Stuart McCall's side and after receiving a pass from Omari Patrick, he lashed a shot wide of the mark from distance. A reasonably lively cameo all in all from the Northern Irishman, but never really forcing Placide into a great deal of action.
Despite, as mentioned earlier, Doyle being shackled by the central defensive duo of Adam Thompson and Nathaniel Knight-Percival, he did get a real opportunity to put the tie to bed with less than 20 minutes to go. Paul Green's lofted pass saw him emerge goal side of the backline but he dragged his shot well wide, failing to test Raeder.
Dan Gardner saw a fiercely struck half-volley go narrowly wide down one end of the field before City substitute Paul Taylor went even closer down the other end shortly afterwards. Abdelhakim Omrani lost the ball inside his own penalty area and then McCartan fed the ball to the in-form Taylor who rocketed a 20 yard attempt inches wide of the mark.
Jordan Gibson went close with a dipping attempt from distance and then Obadeyi came a whisker away from scoring his and Oldham's second goal of the evening, but after cutting inside from the right and onto his left foot once again, he saw a low effort clip the outside of the post.
The lively Gibson was denied a later leveller by Placide in added time before City were denied what looked a certain penalty inside the last handful of seconds as Luke Hendrie was bundled over in the box after latching onto Nicky Law's pass. Nothing doing for the referee who sounded his whislt for tull time; the Bantams beaten by the Latics and the Checkatrade Trophy story over for another season.