Match Thread Cheltenham Town v Bradford City FA Cup 1st Round - Sat 1 Nov 2025 3pm

That sadly is the modern game for you.

 

the whole team is of form no service. he has proved he can score.

 

On a day of a few league 2 vs league 1 upsets can't be too downhearted but do think there needs to be a reality check (and not the bampot, let's call Cooky out type), that says to 3 or 4 lads....if you can't produce between now and January you are out.

Need a couple in in January. Particularly to replace celebrity insta style sick note Powell, swann (not really sure what he does when the team ain't playing well), lapslie and ty no product wright.

Disappointing but we beat the dog shaggers and sit way above anyone's hopes in the league

Let's hope some hard lessons learnt and a few of them realising it's sh*t or bust pre January.

 

Too right fella. Folk going at Cook....mental, were you there today? Doubt it.

 

Ref was hesitatent all game. Would blow and then half heartedly point which way he was giving it.
That said too many showed today that as subs or thereabouts first teamers they ain't where we need to be.

 

Keep repeating yourself mate, someone may pay attention, 2 similar posts in just a few minutes.

 

Over 100 posts since the game finished, I wonder how many of said posters (many repeated) were there?
I wasn't, I'm disappointed but can not comment more than that as I didn't see the game.

 

I wasn't there but by the looks of it, it seems like one of those freak occasions where we completely dominated and they score a contentious goal and we just couldn't find the net in a game that could've easily finished 4-1. I'm not in the least bit concerned. It's business as usual next time out v Burton and we get 3 points. Really not sure what the fuss is about.

 

This round has been a round for the upsets, so far out of the 26 ties that have been against sides from different divisions there have been 12 upsets so we are far from on our own. Looking around league 1teams there only Burton, Stockport, Exeter and Wycombe had comfortable wins.

 

Burton is going to be a very tough game

 

Didnt see game. Can someone get me up to speed? Did they score a free kick that was controversial after our players stopped after hearing a second whistle to halt play?

 

In relative terms to our fixture list it won't be. It's clearly one of our easiest fixtures. You say this about every single fixture.

 

As their goal was scored in front of the City fans, those who were there should be able to clarify whistlegate

 

This will be a game similar to today and league 2 games as they will set up to frustrate and play on the counter attack. So far this season they've got wins at Wimbledon and Cardiff, draws at Huddersfield and Doncaster and a win at home to Bolton so they've done well against top half sides.
I do think this will be a throw back to league 2 with the first goal being vital, if we concede first it will be a tough game and I can see a bit of frustration from the stands becoming a bit louder.
What should be an advantage for us is that they have a midweek game away at Rotherham so less preparation time for them.

 

So I see a lot of the talk is about Cook

Okay, the same guy who single handedly help us beat Grimsby on his first outing

Helped us rescue a point against Rotherham

The most dangerous attacker for us against Stevenage

but yeah, lets summarise him based on his first 90 in 10 months against a a league two team, whilst playing as part of a lineup that is only deployed in the odd cup game. give your heads a shake. The man is fine, he aint going to be the main striker for us at his age and at this level, but I can guarantee he’l bag another 10-12 goals for us before the season is out

 

I said it against Wimbledon Stevenage Lincoln and now Burton. All play in a way that we find difficult. Look at the teams Burton have beaten. I say again this will be a tough test

 

It’s crystal clear that all our players stopped at once, believing the ref had stopped the game.

 

I didn't get into the ground until Twenty past Three thanks to the motorway shenanigans.
(By the way hope those involved are okay tonight )
My take is simple City hit a Red traffic light in and around the six yard box their efforts and dominance in the second half especially followed recent performance all huff and puff with no end product.
Until our goalscoring touch returns Infront of goal we are destined for more frustrating afternoons like today.

 

You can clearly hear and see that he blew his whistle and so the goal shouldn’t have stood. We will probably get an AI written apology from the referee which isn’t good enough. But equally, we should have scored one of the billion chances we had

 

Yep the issue here isn’t two whistles, it’s him blowing just at the point their player takes the FK. The ref has his back to them & hadn’t realised they were already in motion to take it as he blew, presumably thinking they’d be waiting for the whistle before starting.

Him blowing at that point makes our players think he’s stopping it for some reason (even some of theirs turn round wondering why) - but of course he wasn’t & they score.

it’s basically poor management of the free kick by the ref, compounded by what appears to be an unwillingness to accept he should have ordered a retake. He clearly hadn’t told Cheltenham to wait for the whistle either.

As others have said, not great from us in the game to try and recover after that and that’s on us, but it doesn’t help when the opposition are handed a goal inside 2 minutes that it seems everyone agrees shouldn’t have stood.