Too many draws hindering push towards play-off zone (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Too many draws hindering push towards play-off zone

7:20am Tuesday 24th November 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(28)

City must discover a killer instinct to kick the drawing habit at Grimsby tonight.

Like their struggling hosts, the last three games have all ended in stalemate for Stuart McCall’s side.

Saturday’s home draw with Accrington was the latest frustration to keep the Bantams stuck in mid-table.

McCall admits they must learn to be more ruthless to put teams away, starting with the second-bottom Mariners.

He said: “We know we should be comfortably up there in the play-offs. We know we can match anybody in this division on our day, as we’ve shown with the top teams we’ve been up against.

“But we must keep focused and keep believing that we will start turning these draws into wins. It’s all about turning one point into three if we want to make progress.

“A point isn’t a bad result against the likes of Bournemouth but Saturday was a case of us being on top for most of it and not taking the opportunities to put the game out of reach.

“You need that second goal and it’s frustrating and disappointing when it doesn’t come and you allow the other team back into it.”

Grimsby, who yesterday gave former Bantam Neil Woods the full-time manager’s job, have not won since September 19 – a barren run of nine games.

There are striking similarities with last season’s trip to Blundell Park in late October when the home club were still looking for a first league victory. City won 3-1 and Grimsby had to wait until December 13 to finally break their duck.

McCall said: “We are just concentrating on ourselves and going there to get the right result. Regardless of whether it’s Grimsby or Bournemouth, we need to start winning games again.

“We didn’t do too much wrong on Saturday in the conditions but one or two lads were under-par and you could tell those who hadn’t trained all week.

“We’ll look to freshen things up a little bit and look to put things right.”

On-loan Simon Whaley could get his first start on a ground where he impressed with Rochdale earlier in the season. Former Mariners striker Michael Boulding is also in contention after a lively performance off the bench.

McCall said: “Simon showed flashes on Saturday with a good effort just wide and a couple of crosses. There’s no doubt he has got good ability, even though he’d only trained with us once before the game.

“Boulders also only had one training session but looked sharp when he came on. We’ve said it for a couple of weeks now but we’d like to think his long-standing virus is out the way.

“We’ve got to get his strength back up and we’ll keep monitoring him carefully to make sure it is all out of his system.”

Boulding is likely to come face-to-face with former strike partner Barry Conlon.

City fell victim to the ‘law of the ex’ when Michael Symes equalised for Accrington and McCall is wary that any hostility from the away end could fire up the Irishman.

Conlon scored 16 goals last season – his best total for six years – including 11 for City. Having netted five in his first eight games with Grimsby, he has added four so far this term.

McCall warned fans: “Be careful giving too much stick out. I’m sure Baz will be desperate to put one over us.

“He always gave his best while he was here and there were times when he didn’t get a fair crack of the whip from the supporters.

“Baz has gone to a few clubs and had a good little scoring run straight away, like he did with Grimsby last season to help keep them up.

“Unfortunately it didn’t happen with us in that first season when he worked really hard and did everything but score.

“But last season he banged in some important goals for us. At times he was a little unfortunate but I’m sure Grimsby were delighted to get him and I wish him well.”

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(28)