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

As they say, the time to panic is when you're not creating chances

 

When teams take the game to us we look a very good side when teams aren’t bothered about possession and sit back and are very physical we struggle. I think we need to have a different approach against those teams.

 

Totally agree Park, playing long diagonal balls doesn't make any sense against a side sitting in, we have to be comfortable playing a different style of football against sides that want a point.

 

Bore off.....who missed all the chances? Was it Cook? No.

 

Yes watching again closely.....he had his back to the ball and free kick taker...they took it and then he blew the whistle whilst the ball was already in motion, in play....so, as you are taught play to the whistle which they did!!

As you state:

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.

What does Tuna think of this? He's normally very quick to defend referees?

 

I'm obviously missing something.

What was the issue with the free kick?

I don't hear a whistle until the ball lands in the net.

I'm not sure why I hear it at all, but I also see no reason to leave a player completely unmarked from an average free kick?

 

You not watched swan, lasplise etc fml who said loyalty still exist lower down the leagues.

Frankly lad, hang you head in shame given what he's done and what he's recovering from. Go watch leeds

 

Another joke comment from someone pounding likes he's watching leeds.

 

I'm not gonna decry the performance or players as I wasn't at the game and it wasn't online. But listening to the commentary and reading the comments on this thread, I find Lucketti's take a little surprising.

 

I never get why folk have such a downer on Cook ?‽?
Imagine not liking a player who has scored so many goals in how many games ????
Me i think over the next few games someone is in for a hiding and i would be shocked if it aint Burton .............we have missed a hell of a lot of chances of late and someones gonna kop for it

 

I hope you're right about Burton. I'm back in the UK for this, probably my last one til maybe Easter. However, stick your money on a draw as the 3 games I've been to so far are Peterborough, Barnsley, and Stevenage.

 

Exactly that

 

Had the incident happened in the last 15 minutes or so we would have every right to be furious but we had 88+ minutes and 28 shots to sort it out...

I expect this ref will get a warm welcome when he eventually turns up at VP...

 

I've watched it for the first time this morning.

I think the ref feels he's blown his whistle and they've taken it whereas they took it before his whistle but the timing isn't that much out so he doesn't see a problem because, well he's not looking at the ball and the timing seems ok as he sees the ball in the air after a seemingly correct amount of time after his whistle. If they had kicked the ball earlier he would have realised that the ball was in the air before the whistle.

All that said, just defend the frigging ball. Try and stop the header, try and stop the ball going in the net, then argue about it after.

 

Totally agree. The ref completely bottled it. He knows there was a second whistle we don’t know whether he blew it or someone in the crowd. 9 1/2 times out of 10 the ref makes them take another free kick. My money is on the ref blowing the whistle accidentally; we all make mistakes and you stand up and admit it and get on with the match.

 

They are all tough.

 

I cannot understand the excessive criticism of Cook. He has not played a full 90 until yesterday. From what I heard he played well without scoring. He is an excellent player and goal scorer and it would be good if we could all support him on his way back from a career ending injury.

 

It's

That's where Pointon excels,making things happen from midfield.