Match Report:
Bradford City 1 (Taylor 44)
Scunthorpe United 2 (Burgess 45+1, Adelakun 69)
Tuesday 21st November 2017 | Sky Bet League One | Northern Commercials Stadium
The Bantams were left wondering what quite went wrong as Scunthorpe United came from behind to send Stuart McCall's side crashing to a defeat. Paul Taylor's rocket shortly before the interval gave City the lead but there was still time for Cameron Burgess to score an equaliser, diverting Hakeeb Adelakun's free kick past Colin Doyle. The provider turned out to the match winner as his free kick in the second half proved enough to hand the visitors the three points.
The first chance of the game belonged to Scunthorpe United's Jordan Clarke and it was one that came out of nothing really. Rory McArdle switched the ball to his teammate and the United right-back tried an audacious dipping attempt from 25 yards which had to be pushed over the bar alertly by Colin Doyle.
Charlie Wyke scored the opener and set-up the winner at Wigan last weekend and his first chance of the game came shortly afterwards. Paul Taylor delivered a cross from the right-hand side and City's number nine got a shot away on the turn 12 yards from goal which was diverted wide crucially by McArdle.
McArdle was making his first return to Valley Parade since his departure in the summer after 5 years with the Bantams and he was the man in the right place once again to block Romain Vincelot's attempt after Alex Gilliead had beaten Murray Wallace to deliver a cross into the box.
United were the quickest out of the traps with the game in its infancy, but City soon took control of the pattern of the game. The next chance for the Bantams came shortly afterwards; Jake Reeves threaded an incisive pass through to Tony McMahon who unleashed a powerful angled drive which was beaten away in rather unorthodox fashion by Matt Gilks in the Scunthorpe goal.
It was a very closely fought first half with nothing much to choose between the two teams, that was never really going to the be the case. Paul Taylor is the name on everyone's lips at the minute and he sniffed out an opportunity to test Gilks; Reeves broke away on the counter-attack and found his teammate but Funso Ojo made an important intervention to deny the City number 10 inside the penalty area.
Just before the break it was Taylor who scored the opening goal and what a strike it was. Just over a month after his wonder-goal against Oldham, he scored one of pretty much equal quality; Wyke was there to knock the ball down into his strike-partner's path and he curled a fierce shot into the top corner past a helpless Matt Gilks.
A half-time lead then surely? That wasn't to be the case with Scunthorpe levelling things up almost on the whistle. After Vincelot fouled a lively Duane Holmes, Hakeeb Adelakun delivered a tempting free-kick into the box; Doyle came but didn't quite get there and Cameron Burgess was the man amongst the melee to divert the ball into the back of the net.
City would have taken the lead again early in the second half but for some terrific goalkeeping by the experienced Gilks. Alex Gilliead got the better of Wallace once again down the right-hand side to deliver a cross into the box which Nicky Law headed cleanly towards goal from close range but the United stopper pulled off arguably the save of the match.
Rouven Sattelmaier had been brought off at half-time in place of Colin Doyle who had picked up a knee injury in an attempt to prevent Scunthorpe's equaliser and his first involvement was to get down quickly to keep out Paddy Madden's angled half-volley six minutes into the half.
Luke Hendrie had another admirable performance at left-back following on from his display last weekend at Wigan, and after stopping Holmes in his tracks, he fancied his chances with a curling attempt from 20 yards out which was on target but held fairly comfortably by Gilks.
City were always knocking on the door for the next goal but after Taylor saw a specualtive low drive from distance held by Gilks, it was Scunthorpe who took the lead for the first time. Provider turned scorer as Adelakun found the net with a free-kick which squirmed under the body of Sattelmaier to leave the visitors with something to hang onto with only 20 minutes or so to go.
McMahon had a free-kick held by Gilks after Neal Bishop had been booked for a foul on Wyke, and then Vincelot curled a shot harmlessly wide from the edge of the box as City searched high and low for a leveller. The Bantams' gung-ho style though left them vulnerable to be hit on the counter-attack and Madden was the man threatening once again, this time his low drive going wide of the target.
Sattelmaier will be questioned for United's second goal, but he did really well to keep City in the game with a smart double save. Firstly, he was alert enough to stop Clarke's cross-shot from sneaking into the goal before reacting quickly to tip Madden's follow-up header to safety when he looked well-placed to add a fatal third goal.
Five minutes were added on at the end of the regulation 90 to give the Bantams a decent chance of getting a late-leveller but Scunthorpe did a great job of defending their lead. Taylor forced Gilks into a smart save with another rocket of a strike but time ran out for the hosts who fell to their third successive home league defeat.