The Voice - Match preview #41: Bradford City vs Crewe Alexandra Saturday 5th April 2025 3:00pm

I think he now realises that’s the issue, however the problem Shep has with his hip(s) seems to be the main catalyst for the left side “ tinkering” . The only known “ go to “ is Baldwin who is turning out to be a very astute signing . We could say he’s got too many choices for the middle and right.

At seasons end we only have one recognised C/b and that’s Baldwin? The rest are out of contract or return , in Sheps case to parent club. Should we therefore start again with L1 or ex CC players if we are to go up?

 

His goal was good. His assist for the first I think was a bit lucky. He got the ball stuck under his feet, and then it rebounded off the defenders legs before he got his shot off which was a scuffed effort that somehow made it to the post and back to him. He then had another go at goal and completely shanked it, fortunately into the path of the oncoming Pointon. You need a bit of luck to win matches, and today was our day!

 

Impressed with Baldwin. We all know the secret to steady away at the back is a settled not changing defence. Onwards lads we showed up yesterday.

 

I'm not Kav’s biggest fan but the criticism for me is aimed much higher than at him per se. We came out of the January window with him, another 21 year old who hadn't started a game in over a year and an attacking midfielder as our strike force for the remains of the season. That's the issue for me.

 

Spot on. If we come out of this with auto promotion it will be despite our recruitment in January. Nothing wrong with the lads they brought in but they are all young. We needed a striker of quality. It would cost without a doubt but I think we would already be promoted if we had taken a leap of faith with our recruitment.

 

The problem is, how much would it have cost?
I reckon at least half of the clubs in L2 would have wanted to bolster their attack in January with a proven, reliable, experienced goalscorer. None of them managed it. Which suggests that either there was no such animal available or willing to move to L2 in January or that it would have cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds to do so - out of the reach of every L2 club’s budget, including ours.
As others have said, the failure was in not signing a competent deputy/competition for Cook in the last two summer transfer windows.

 

BANTAMS TOP! | Bradford City v Crewe Alexandra extended highlights

Just watched this back, and as I thought at the time the lino got both Bobby's goal and Crewe goal bang on, in fact two Crewe players were off side for their goal, thanks for the tip with regards slow motion on You Tube @Kevin1954.

 

What did you think about the tackle on Pattison? Having just seen that on the extended highlights it could very easily have been a red card

 

I said the same at the time and still firmly believe that it was a reckless tackle at best and we were fortunate that Patto wasn't badly injured.

 

It’s a nailed on red card for me. I thought so at the time and seeing it back doesn’t alter my view. It’s a studs up, over the ball, knee high, out of control lunge that could easily have caused a serious injury. It meets all the criteria for a straight red.
Compare that tackle to those that had Andrew Davies and David Syers sent off some years back, when they never even made contact with the opponent. Yesterday’s tackle on Pattison was far worse than either of those two.
I’m amazed that @Bumblebee_Tuna and others on here don’t think it warranted a red card. Did it have to actually break his leg to justify a dismissal?

 

It was a simple red, the poster in question defends refs at every opportunity. Other than that tbf I don’t think the officials got anything important wrong. But it’s a standard leg breaker, the fact he got lucky doesn’t come into the refs decision. In fact he had the yellow in his hand instantly, which is also wrong as he gave himself no thinking time.

 

Kavanagh was a nuisance all game same as he was against Colchester and he was a pain at vale without the rewards and one of the very players who deserved any plaudits from Tuesday night. Yes he could do more his touch could be better at times however just like Smallwood was early season and last year he was easy pickings for the fans. Kavanagh is a young player who with or without us will play at an higher level than L2 in the future.

 

He needs to improve his first touch in particular, but he gets a hard time imo. I’d like to compare Kav’s stats with Cook and Wells’ first full season. He’s younger than both were as well, a lot younger in Cook’s case. He may never reach their potential, but he’s probably ahead of both of those names at their age.

 

Watching it again I think the ref would be justified in giving a red. I'm pretty sure you'd get a split decision on that one between a red and a yellow if you ask most observers.

I don't always defend refs, I just try to be rational.

 

Yes, I know that. But that was a clear red for me. It was a really reckless challenge that could have seriously injured Pattison.

 

We tried to sign an experienced striker, Jordan Rhodes, he ended up at league one Mansfield and has scored once and is now on the bench as an unused sub. Clubs don’t let good strikers go in January when they are under contract unless you are really lucky and there’s been a fallout like there was with Andy Cook at Mansfield.

 

You're right he was a pain.

Problem is that it's mostly the fans feeling that pain by having to watch yet another ball bounce off his shin or him overrun the ball and give it away.

He's young so he's still hopefully got plenty of improvement to come but without it there'd be no way on earth he's going any higher.

 

But when it really mattered he controlled the ball effortlessly on his knee and slotted it home like Lineker or Greaves.

 

He did, superb finish and he deserves all the plaudits for the way he kept a cool head under that pressure.