[Bankrobber]

I thought the ref started poorly but had a better game after he got his talking to from Griggy!

The lino on the West Stand side was dreadful. The worst error being his failure to keep up with play and spot their lad yards offside, which led to the corner where they won the pen.

Fully agree with Metcalfe as MotM, but watching Liam Mandeville glide through the gears and take the game by the scruff in that last 30 or so was great viewing.

[jack bauer]

JonB, on 21 April 2025 - 09:25 PM, said:

Just seen it on TV and it looks very soft and more so when you consider the shirt pulling that was let go by the ref when they were defending corners as the second half went on. One corner madden was having his shirt pulled from before it was taken and then still as the ball travelled in. This was the same for numerous of our players. All the assistant in front of the west stand cared about was the being in the right place!

sometimes makes me wonder if teams who have a reputation for being "physical" get away with more as it's "a strength of theirs", like a few sides this season they played the officials very well, constantly leaving a bit on and for long periods of the game getting away with it.

[Dapets]

ash_cfc, on 21 April 2025 - 09:45 PM, said:

Of all the bizarre decisions the ref made today I personally thought the penalty was one of the few he got right. Bradford player is going away from goal so why Naylor has to have 2 hands around his waist I’ll never know. He’s been absolutely miles off it this season. Bullied at CB and the legs look half a yard slower than last season in the variety of awkward midfield positions he’s played this season.

Bradford player slows down his run forcing Naylor to run into him.

We looked a lot more solid in a hybrid 3-5-1-1 today

Mandeville was easy MOM

[Goku]

ash_cfc, on 21 April 2025 - 09:45 PM, said:

Of all the bizarre decisions the ref made today I personally thought the penalty was one of the few he got right. Bradford player is going away from goal so why Naylor has to have 2 hands around his waist I’ll never know. He’s been absolutely miles off it this season. Bullied at CB and the legs look half a yard slower than last season in the variety of awkward midfield positions he’s played this season.

Agree about Naylor… but then he plays a big part in both of ours goals with incisive first time passes. He started off poorly but got better as the game went on. Cook’s treatment of him this season has been odd tbh

[JonB]

Bankrobber, on 21 April 2025 - 10:23 PM, said:

I thought the ref started poorly but had a better game after he got his talking to from Griggy!

The lino on the West Stand side was dreadful. The worst error being his failure to keep up with play and spot their lad yards offside, which led to the corner where they won the pen.

Fully agree with Metcalfe as MotM, but watching Liam Mandeville glide through the gears and take the game by the scruff in that last 30 or so was great viewing.

It was particularly annoying when one of the few offsides he did give us he waited ages to actually give it allowing two of their players to go flying into tackles on Araujo that could have led to injury when it was completely unnecessary had he just put his flag up. In contrast second half the other assistant gave us an offside when one of theirs was in an offside position forcing Mcfadzean i think it was into an uncomfortable header that he couldnt clear properly so the assistant deemed the guy interfering.

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

Wasn't there yest'di's so logged-in to garner some sorta sense of the game.

But blimey, this section sometimes descends towards the levels of the 'Personal' one.

It's mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned, though. The sniff of the play offs with a couple of games to go ambitioned last Aug'. And achieved despite having to all but rebuild the side after Xmas.

We're not good enough to go up, simple as that. Cook offered last season's squad the opportunity to impress but, sadly, most have fallen short. However the contract situation means that can all be addressed this summer.

Bottom line is we've progressed every season since his return. I'm confident that'll continue next year...

[hilly81]

Did anyone else notice Araujo have a little kick out at their player after their tussle on the touchline just before he was subbed off? They were both at it but Araujo definitely had a bit of a flick at him. I thought the ref was going to book both of them. A red would have topped off Araujo's day.

[prolurker]

Slightly reactionary but if we'd won that game, the Mandeville performance would go down as one of the best I've seen in a blue shirt.

There were times where every player on the pitch looked panicked but he had the ability to get the ball down and moving. Oustanding servant and getting better every season.

[whittman]

prolurker, on 22 April 2025 - 08:09 AM, said:

Slightly reactionary but if we'd won that game, the Mandeville performance would go down as one of the best I've seen in a blue shirt.

There were times where every player on the pitch looked panicked but he had the ability to get the ball down and moving. Oustanding servant and getting better every season.

I think when mandy pushed up into a more attacking midfield role he got into what they call the zone and started dominating our attacking play oblivious to the bradford players around him trying to stop his influence on the match

MOM closely followed by Metcalfe who has got more influential since returning after his injury mid season

[dtp]

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 22 April 2025 - 07:38 AM, said:

Wasn't there yest'di's so logged-in to garner some sorta sense of the game.

But blimey, this section sometimes descends towards the levels of the 'Personal' one.

It's mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned, though. The sniff of the play offs with a couple of games to go ambitioned last Aug'. And achieved despite having to all but rebuild the side after Xmas.

We're not good enough to go up, simple as that. Cook offered last season's squad the opportunity to impress but, sadly, most have fallen short. However the contract situation means that can all be addressed this summer.

Bottom line is we've progressed every season since his return. I'm confident that'll continue next year...

I was there, Chris, and to be honest it was probably a very important point won when we could have lost all three. In a strange way the sun seemed to shine on us as we certainly improved when it came out and I feel if the game had gone on a little longer we were the only team that might have won it.

Moving on to your comment about not being good enough to go up. I agree the present squad is not. However, if, and it’s a big if, we actually win the playoffs the squad rebuild will be for L1 and not L2. We have enough players out of contract to allow us to rebuild for whichever league we are in.

[prolurker]

whittman, on 22 April 2025 - 08:25 AM, said:

I think when mandy pushed up into a more attacking midfield role he got into what they call the zone and started dominating our attacking play oblivious to the bradford players around him trying to stop his influence on the match

MOM closely followed by Metcalfe who has got more influential since returning after his injury mid season

I wonder if 'going for it Saturday' sees us line up with a Mandy, Metcalf midfield. Now that would be good to watch.

Leaves a strange sized shape at right back though.

[PontePete]

prolurker, on 22 April 2025 - 08:09 AM, said:

Slightly reactionary but if we'd won that game, the Mandeville performance would go down as one of the best I've seen in a blue shirt.

There were times where every player on the pitch looked panicked but he had the ability to get the ball down and moving. Oustanding servant and getting better every season.

I thought Mandy was absolutely sublime yesterday.

[ash_cfc]

Goku, on 22 April 2025 - 05:34 AM, said:

Agree about Naylor… but then he plays a big part in both of ours goals with incisive first time passes. He started off poorly but got better as the game went on. Cook’s treatment of him this season has been odd tbh

Could also argue he lost his man for their 3rd goal. You can see him running in sludge trying to keep up as the fella slots his header away. I’m trying my best not to dig him out because Naylor last season was immense. He’s scored a couple of important goals and contributed this season I’m just concerned that regression has set in. Ideally next season he becomes more of a squad player as opposed to a starting midfielder weekly.

Few bits on the grapevine about him wanting a further year on top of next season, and being disappointed he’d been left out recently. Again, on the grapevine.

[Spireite93]

prolurker, on 22 April 2025 - 08:38 AM, said:

I wonder if 'going for it Saturday' sees us line up with a Mandy, Metcalf midfield. Now that would be good to watch.

Leaves a strange sized shape at right back though.

That possibly explains the thinking behind Araujo at left back, Mandy played much more advanced (and has done in other games where we've pushed on) leaving more of a back 3

[60s 70s Spireite]

ash_cfc, on 22 April 2025 - 08:41 AM, said:

Could also argue he lost his man for their 3rd goal. You can see him running in sludge trying to keep up as the fella slots his header away. I’m trying my best not to dig him out because Naylor last season was immense. He’s scored a couple of important goals and contributed this season I’m just concerned that regression has set in. Ideally next season he becomes more of a squad player as opposed to a starting midfielder weekly.

Few bits on the grapevine about him wanting a further year on top of next season, and being disappointed he’d been left out recently. Again, on the grapevine.

Although, he was integral to all three of our goals. Fed Olakigbe and Metcalfe for their assists, and Mandy for his goal.

This post has been edited by 60s 70s Spireite: 22 April 2025 - 09:02 AM

[JonB]

hilly81, on 22 April 2025 - 08:08 AM, said:

Did anyone else notice Araujo have a little kick out at their player after their tussle on the touchline just before he was subbed off? They were both at it but Araujo definitely had a bit of a flick at him. I thought the ref was going to book both of them. A red would have topped off Araujo's day.

Was on the other side of the pitch from me but it did look like Sarcevic i think it was knew Araujo was booked and made a beeline to try and provoke him into a reaction. There was no reason for him to walk over Araujo like he did when he was on the floor and he knew exactly what he was doing. Araujo was set to come off before that but it would have topped things off with the ref if he had fallen for it.

prolurker, on 22 April 2025 - 08:38 AM, said:

I wonder if 'going for it Saturday' sees us line up with a Mandy, Metcalf midfield. Now that would be good to watch.

Leaves a strange sized shape at right back though.

I can see us doing exactly what we did for a lot of the game yesterday. Mandeville listed as right back but when we have the ball he will push into almost central midfield to give another body in there and leave space for Olakigbe to work on the right wing. I think Cook also things that Olakigbe's pace gives us cover at right back to do that. You would think we will have a lot of the ball on Saturday so expect to see more of what happened yesterday as the game wore on. Bradford struggled to find a way to stop Mandeville influencing the game plus Mandeville being in there gave Metcalf a bit more room to influence the game as well.

[dart in the crossbar]

azul, on 21 April 2025 - 09:59 PM, said:

Its not the decision that is incorrect but singling that one incident out while ignoring all the other stuff; that's the issue

The ref did what a few have done here over the past few seasons. He seemed to generally give decisions based on the reaction of the player/s, rather than the action of the 'tackler'. I'd reckon that there were a dozen or more freekicks given to both sides (to be fair) that had everything to do with the player flying into the air, rolling over several times etc rather than the 'tackle'. It was poor refereeing.

[JonB]

dart in the crossbar, on 22 April 2025 - 09:03 AM, said:

The ref did what a few have done here over the past few seasons. He seemed to generally give decisions based on the reaction of the player/s, rather than the action of the 'tackler'. I'd reckon that there were a dozen or more freekicks given to both sides (to be fair) that had everything to do with the player flying into the air, rolling over several times etc rather than the 'tackle'. It was poor refereeing.

Thats all fine but he declined to give us a penalty a couple of times second half when Madden and someone else were hauled to the floor in the build up to and while the ball was in flight at corners. There were a couple of corners where nearly everyone of our players in the box could have claimed they were being fouled and gone to ground to make him give a decision but they were too honest. We also, and i've mentioned this before, dont make enough of things like this to put it in the officials minds. Only Madden made a point of it to the ref along with we didnt make enough of their keeper taking ages over things although he did get booked in the end so it gave him a free pass to do it for the last 15mins as no official has the balls to book a keeper twice for time wasting!

Only Grigg really complained to the ref but it noticeable the ref decided to drag Naylor over as captain to make a meal of it when numerous Bradford players were doing it without any retribution. There was a moment second half where he gave us a throw for one where it looked like Grigg headed it out, from there at least 3 or 4 Bradford players were continually complaining about the decision for a good 5/6 mins afterwards without him doing anything about it.

[dtp]

dart in the crossbar, on 22 April 2025 - 09:03 AM, said:

The ref did what a few have done here over the past few seasons. He seemed to generally give decisions based on the reaction of the player/s, rather than the action of the 'tackler'. I'd reckon that there were a dozen or more freekicks given to both sides (to be fair) that had everything to do with the player flying into the air, rolling over several times etc rather than the 'tackle'. It was poor refereeing.

Must admit I wasn’t at all impressed with the officials yesterday. Neither was I impressed with the tactics used by Bradford in trying to influence decisions, time waste, feign injury, and generally get away with blatant foul play. They played the officials right through the game.

With reference to the little Araujo spat, the Bradford player intentionally tried to provoke a reaction from young Harvey and had already kicked him whilst on the ground before he got that reaction. In fairness to the ref he didn’t actually fall for that one but how he could only determine Grigg was fouled just once when their CB repeatedly performed the same act both before and after it had been deemed a foul I don’t know. If it is a foul once it is a foul every time!!!

[Osborne again]

JonB, on 21 April 2025 - 09:25 PM, said:

Just seen it on TV and it looks very soft and more so when you consider the shirt pulling that was let go by the ref when they were defending corners as the second half went on. One corner madden was having his shirt pulled from before it was taken and then still as the ball travelled in. This was the same for numerous of our players. All the assistant in front of the west stand cared about was the being in the right place!

Yes, I agree with you, Bradford really did get away with a lot. He seemed to be whistle happy against anyone in blue, especially in the first half.
As for the West stand lino, he may as well been a gargoyle for what he did in the first half but waved his flag like an excited kid at a coronation in the second 45 minutes.