A week is a long time in football, they say. Certainly, from last week to this the mood around Valley Parade has changed appreciably, but it's funny what a couple of wins will do to lighten the mood of the supporters. Saturday saw an apparently very good performance against Barnet, coming from a goal down to win 4-2, and there were more happy faces making their way home from BD8 tonight. The first round of the much-maligned Johnstone's Paint Trophy saw the Bantams at home to Sheffield Wednesday, and televised to boot. Being in immigration limbo meant that I could spend a leisurely lunchtime watching it over the internet.
Quite often when we end up playing a side from a higher division, there's a school of thought that says "just don't get beaten heavily". That certainly applied to the game against Leeds three weeks ago. However it would be fair to say Sheffield Wednesday weren't taking things quite so seriously as Leeds did, when they took their keeper off after just 80 seconds, without looking too injured. The conspiratorial smirks on the bench suggested this was entirely expected; it was quickly speculated both online and in the commentary box that this was a way of Wednesday circumventing the "6 man' rule which states that teams must start six men from their last league game. This was pretty much confirmed a little over ten minutes later when two more subs came on, again to amusement from the visiting dugout. It didn't go down well with their supporters on twitter, and I can't blame them. What a slap in the face to the 700 or so travelling supporters that had to brave the M1 and M62 on a Tuesday night to get there.
I really wouldn't expect anything less of a team coached by Gary Megson, purveyor of numerous artless, route-one sides down the years. I often think back to his West Brom side in 2002, who blindly hoofed the ball long for 90 minutes, couldn't create a chance worthy of the name, and then had to resort to one of the most blatant bits of cheating I've ever seen to get them promoted into the Premier League. The Owls side had more of the ball in the first half, but created almost nothing of note, chance wise and the home side should have opened the scoring on the stroke of half time when Hanson headed wide with the keeper all at sea. City improved in the second half. The second showed more of the same from the visitors, but a bit more cutting edge from the home side; Compton should have scored in the opening seconds of the half after a slip from a debutant central defender who had played in the Owls infamous 14-0 preseason defeat to the mighty Alfreton Town.
City had the ball in the net in the 66th minute as giant defender Luke Oliver headed Chris Mitchell's free-kick goalwards and a defender headed the ball out from inside the back of the net. A clear goal, but as per usual, the standard of FL officiating left a lot to be desired. Ritchie Jones was denied a goal late on by a fine save from the visiting sub keeper O'Donnell, and then Oliver hit the crossbar in injury time. The home side deserved to win on the balance of chances created, but the deadlock meant straight to the lottery of penalties. City had won two shootouts two seasons ago and we were hoping another loanee keeper might make a name for himself. Swedish keeper Oscar Jansson, on loan from Spurs saw the first attempt from the useless Clinton Morrison balloon over the bar, before saving from Chris Palmer. Jones and Michael Flynn buried theirs, Wednesday's Giles Coke scored his, boyhood Wednesday fan Ross Hannah netted, before Jansson saved a really very poor effort from Chris Sedgwick to win the game and get his reward of a giant pile-on. An ultra-cynical reading of the shootout and the level of spot-kick taken would lead you to speculate they were trying to miss those as well. Maybe that's a bit harsh. Maybe.
Ultimately, Megson got his wish. I would hope there's a disrepute charge or something winging his way somewhere pretty soon. For many lower division players (and fans), the chance of a Wembley day out is pretty much limited to the Play-Off final; if he feels he can in clear conscience deny the supporters a chance at that, as well as the significant financial boost that comes with it, then he's even more of a pillock than he showed himself to be tonight. As for BCFC, I was impressed with the work-rate (just as I was in the Leeds game), but tonight, there was a much greater solidity to the team. Luke Oliver was something of a figure of fun last season, but he has apparently been very good this season and was commanding tonight. Jones in the midfield was also very good I thought. Two good performances under Colin Cooper make me hope that the club will keep him on in his coaching capacity, he gave a very impressive interview on the radio after Saturday's game about the length of time he has taken since his playing career to get his UEFA coaching qualifications. Given the new approach of trying to find diamonds-in-the-rough, the club needs coaches of his calibre.
