City 3 Morecambe 1 (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Another great result - need to take confidence in to our away performances! Well done lads! CTID

Well deadbeat seems to be making Shaun the sheep a bit lost for words these days!! Come on Shaun admit the mans doing a better job than anyone since the Jewell era.

Bit quiet again from DEADBEAT SHAUN, another solid display from the lads.
IN PARKY WE TRUST!!!!

Fantastic, clinical, win.

Conceded and quickly restored the advantage.

Question is Gary Jones human! lol what a player what a result get in COME ON CITY !!!

Well all the supporters that questioned a 35year old signing. Where are ur comments now?????

shaunbcfc wrote:
Well all the supporters that questioned a 35year old signing. Where are ur comments now?????

To be fair its early in the season and the question is will two games a week till Chirstmas be too much.
I never questioned him by the way just seeing others point of view.

Correctness,oddshape
balls,look at the league table just as I said after the Accrington game !! stick around and you'll learn a little about football :-))

Gillingham 7 11 19

2 Port Vale 7 10 16

3 Exeter 7 7 16

4 Fleetwood 7 5 13

5 Bradford 7 4 13

both sides were very good and produced a brilliant game. I can not remember a more entertaining one. we had a game plan and were deserved winners. all the team, inc subs deserve a pat on the back but Doyle was superb. get in.

A great game.

Those who said they were entertained on saturday must be buzzing over this then.

Two teams giving it all and i feel we passed two tests today. Morecambe can pass the ball and were physical and we matched them. especially in a physical sense. Davies was superb as was doyle and Jones.

The initial turning point was when we began to press higher up the pitch. If this was Parkys call then well done. We had started far two deep with two banks of four and the initial impetus was with them. Elison should have scored and then they could have played counter which was expected but didn't happen. They came and had a real go i felt and will beat a few sides along the way this season. They do need a striker though.....

Cue Hanson.....who said he has no feet? I predicted 20 this season if fit and he'll get there i'm sure. He took the knocks. Connell helped out but has missed two one on ones now and Nahki did really well in his stint.

When we pressed higher up the pitch, we looked so much better. PRIsoner i dint count free-kicks when i said that the central two won't score many ;-).....

Its still very early but this showing rather than Saturdays suggests we have the credentials to challenge. As i say i liked the way we stood up to them physically. Doyle began to boss things today and Davies took no prisoners.

They did have chances though and could have scored more. Particularly on our right hand side where gaps/space appears on occasion. Jon mc's save was vital at 2-1 from that area.

Overall though it was far more entertaining than what i've witnessed thus far. A solid performance, better use of the ball and some real belief amongst the players. Onwards and upwards.......

Another great win. A settled side, small squad quicker to gel, people doing their jobs well and beyond, the strongest bench in the division.

I still feel we have a gear or two to shift upwards and feel sorry for the team who are on the end of it when we do. Took a good 15 minutes to settle again but bossed the majority of the match after that apart from a five minute spell early in the 2nd half.


Not often I say told you so but I did say Jones would run all match every match and he was also good with free kicks around the box. I remember him scoring one exactly like that for Dale in a cup match. As regards his age and amount of games, he has averaged 50 games per season over the last couple of years, and on current evidence shows no sign of slowing that down. PP also has the luxury of Ravenhill back from injury should he feel Jones needs a breather.

I feel I should apologise to PP and Will A for comments made about WA ability and PP's decision to sign him. He knows what he's doing, the lad can play and was either nervous or unfit last season as every time he's played this year bar one game he has shown energy, intelligence and determination. Can't ask for more.

Finally, Dann, I think you need to reappraise your CM judgement. Once again Doyle fired off a couple of great shots and Jones, whilst busy all over the pitch weighed in with his first of what will be a 7 or 8 goal season for him.

Pint with a whiskey chaser if he doesn't mate.

Haha, we mustve posted at the same time Dann. Both thought to comment on CMs who I felt were brilliant again.

Best all round performance for a long long time in my opinion, both on and off the ball.

Goal aside, I found Reid frustrating!!

Connell makes a great partnership for Handon, reads the flicks very well. I would stick with him over Wells.

Prisoner Cell Block A wrote:
Haha, we mustve posted at the same time Dann. Both thought to comment on CMs who I felt were brilliant again.

I'm not back-tracking when i say that my comment was aimed at open play. Doyle again did get of a shot but again it was from outside the box. Unless its spot-on etc this won't yield too many. they don't get in the box much so it was aimed at that. However we may not need them too. If Hanson hits 20 and i feel he will do and the other strikers chip in then on current goals conceded we may win games without. Indeed Connell was top scorer for swindon last year with 13.

I stated in my appraisal saturday how we can improve and would need to. Well we did and also needed to. had we played like we did last game i'm convinced that Morecambe would have been more capable of punishing us. Indeed they still managed spells whereby they could have scored more but so could we. As for Atkinson, you can't really tell from the limited time on the pitch, although i thought Nahki was great when he came on both dfensively and using/passing the ball well. We have cover on the bench too. Its looking better and some of the direction the club has taken, and some fans were clamouring for is taking effect. e.g. our own players, smaller squad, no-tinkering, 442;-), wide-players etc.

Still a long long way to go but its much more pleasing to look at this end of the table.......

A thoroughly enjoyable game, and a pretty good performance.

Should've been more than 1 up at half time, with Connell and McArdle missing guilt edged chances, which I thought we might be left to rue, when we had a dodgy spell around the hour mark, where they could've equalised.

Up to that point Morcambe's tactics appeared to be the hopeful long ball, and trying to con the ref into putting as many of our players in the book.

Three excellent goals, great strike from Hanson, and a superb ball from Doyle to find Reid who provided an equally great finish. Pleased for Reidy as he seems to have been lacking a bit of confidence recently, but being honest when he hit it, that is probably the last place I expected it to end up!

And just to put the icing on the cake, a class free kick from Jones.

Doyle is looking fitter with each game though, at first he looked unfit and bait podgy, but is getting more dominant with each game.

Also, Wells came on at a time when Morecambe were starting to put us under pressure and force a few misplaced passes/clearances. He put pressure on the Morcambe back line, helping stop their build-up play which deserves a mention.

All in all, very good performance. It was obviously satisfying to go in at 1-0 after MFC thought they probably got away with it (like so many other teams have at this level due to us not hitting the target).

Also noticed in general much more intelligent play than the opposition we've come up against at home e.g. taking time to pick the correct pass, not just hoofing it desperately (like Barnet constantly did), and players are playing with confidence and not letting any stray ball or error affect them too much.

good win now for some away points please

Great win another 3pts and 3 cracking goals. That man Atkinson, makes Messi look $hite lol.

this could be our best season for 10 years.well done lads.

Brilliant. Every line of the Claret and Amber anthem says it all! Great game. Great effort from fans. Enjoy these matches, sing your hearts out, don't be waiting for the bubble to burst. We are going to be there and there aboutts at the end of the season, singing as automatics or at the great Wembley stadium.

Another great match at VP. I don't recall saying that much over the last few seasons.

We have a lot of big players this season and all are turning up. Jones, Doyle and Davies were great again. Jones is a man machine.

I had a few lets say discussions with people in pre season who wanted us to retain the likes of Flynn and Bullock. If we ever wanted to go anywhere we had to get rid and start again and so its proving. No disrespect to the likes of Flynn but the boys we now have would simply run them out of town. There really is no comparison

This makes our away league form a little mystifying, but lets hope with confidence high we can also start to turn this around a bit now too.

What does every line say? I keep my earphones in until 5 seconds before kick off. In fact, no, if the lyrics are as bad as the tune I don't want to know. Were they written by the blind man's (Mr Thompson) dyslexic nephew.

Get rid of it now and replace it with silence, a dog barking, a baby crying, a call to prayer, anything but the godamnawful cacophony that sounds like a cat being swung against a bass drum but by someone with no sense of rythym.

BUT....we haven't had four wins on the bounce for 55 years, have felt like the ground has been cursed by the ghost of the not-dead Geoff R so maybe the tune is a lucky omen or is scaring the bad spirits so much they've moved to Bellend Road.

Why not use 'We're from Bradford' by The Negatives?

Haha, the Negatives, maybe they could rename the band to the Negatrons. ;)

I don't care anymore anyway, I march to the beat of my own drum so this oddity is less of an irritant than I thought it was going to be.

total90 wrote:
Brilliant. Every line of the Claret and Amber anthem says it all! Great game. Great effort from fans. Enjoy these matches, sing your hearts out, don't be waiting for the bubble to burst. We are going to be there and there aboutts at the end of the season, singing as automatics or at the great Wembley stadium.

I am a convert to the song

fatbloke wrote:
Best all round performance for a long long time in my opinion, both on and off the ball. Goal aside, I found Reid frustrating!! Connell makes a great partnership for Handon, reads the flicks very well. I would stick with him over Wells.

I agree with you about Reid. what did you think of Hines. does Atkinson deserve to start?

Victor Clayton wrote:

fatbloke wrote: Best all round performance for a long long time in my opinion, both on and off the ball. Goal aside, I found Reid frustrating!! Connell makes a great partnership for Handon, reads the flicks very well. I would stick with him over Wells.

I agree with you about Reid. what did you think of Hines. does Atkinson deserve to start?

Will Atkinson has been a different player this season and it just shows what a little confidence can do to a player. His short spells from the bench in the last two games have been very impressive indeed and his effort on goal, last night, deserved to nestle in the bottom corner.

However, that said, I would keep him on the bench. Hines is doing okay, nothing special, but I'd rather persevere with him for a little longer before consigning him to the reserves. In fact, when we do decide to drop him, what is to say that Thompson shouldn't replace him?

No, for me, I want to see Atkinson coming off the bench and running at tiring back fours like he has done over the past few games.

Waynus1971 wrote:

Victor Clayton wrote:

fatbloke wrote: Best all round performance for a long long time in my opinion, both on and off the ball. Goal aside, I found Reid frustrating!! Connell makes a great partnership for Handon, reads the flicks very well. I would stick with him over Wells.

I agree with you about Reid. what did you think of Hines. does Atkinson deserve to start?

Will Atkinson has been a different player this season and it just shows what a little confidence can do to a player. His short spells from the bench in the last two games have been very impressive indeed and his effort on goal, last night, deserved to nestle in the bottom corner.

However, that said, I would keep him on the bench. Hines is doing okay, nothing special, but I'd rather persevere with him for a little longer before consigning him to the reserves. In fact, when we do decide to drop him, what is to say that Thompson shouldn't replace him?

No, for me, I want to see Atkinson coming off the bench and running at tiring back fours like he has done over the past few games.

good call Waynus

tyker2 wrote:

Waynus1971 wrote:

Victor Clayton wrote:

fatbloke wrote: Best all round performance for a long long time in my opinion, both on and off the ball. Goal aside, I found Reid frustrating!! Connell makes a great partnership for Handon, reads the flicks very well. I would stick with him over Wells.

I agree with you about Reid. what did you think of Hines. does Atkinson deserve to start?

Will Atkinson has been a different player this season and it just shows what a little confidence can do to a player. His short spells from the bench in the last two games have been very impressive indeed and his effort on goal, last night, deserved to nestle in the bottom corner.

However, that said, I would keep him on the bench. Hines is doing okay, nothing special, but I'd rather persevere with him for a little longer before consigning him to the reserves. In fact, when we do decide to drop him, what is to say that Thompson shouldn't replace him?

No, for me, I want to see Atkinson coming off the bench and running at tiring back fours like he has done over the past few games.

good call Waynus

Three of us in agreement over this but I actually think Will will be given the nod to start this weekend as I think PP will stick to the formation he used v Accy away and not the one v Rovrum.

The reason I think this is that, despite what others have to say that formation worked, we were the better team all match, had one off the line, one hit the post and scored the equaliser, all whilst limiting a side at home to one shot on target, albeit one they scored a goal from. And as we now know Parky is one for sides keeping shape and doing jobs, especially away from home.

Just to add some balance to ths debate ,i still feel that the 'sudden' turn around in opinion over Atkinson isn't yet fully justified. He's barely featured in some games, yet has seemingly gone from someone who was poor last season to flavour of the month. I just feel that judgement should be reserved. On saturday he did the 'trick' on the bye-line but barely touched the ball otherwise. On Tuesday he made one great runaand shot, one good through ball for Nahki of serious note. he also made one poor pass and a less than strong challenge. Point been i'm not criticising him for the sake of it but feel that his contribution is been over-emphasised. Compare Nakhi's contribution when he came on. He tackled back numerous times, preventing one serious break away. made alot more passes and also managed to be a threat. Thus i'd debate that he contributed more in a similar time on the pitch.

I am glad that each time he does get the ball he is been encouraged by the crowd and it is noticeable that he looks more confident on the ball. however he is entering the field of play when we are in front of games and for not very long thus i just feel that some are getting carried away.

Good luck to him and i hope he continues to improve when he is required . He came on in front of Thompson so he must be impressing Parky.......

dannbradfc wrote:
Just to add some balance to ths debate ,i still feel that the 'sudden' turn around in opinion over Atkinson isn't yet fully justified. He's barely featured in some games, yet has seemingly gone from someone who was poor last season to flavour of the month. I just feel that judgement should be reserved. On saturday he did the 'trick' on the bye-line but barely touched the ball otherwise. On Tuesday he made one great runaand shot, one good through ball for Nahki of serious note. he also made one poor pass and a less than strong challenge. Point been i'm not criticising him for the sake of it but feel that his contribution is been over-emphasised. Compare Nakhi's contribution when he came on. He tackled back numerous times, preventing one serious break away. made alot more passes and also managed to be a threat. Thus i'd debate that he contributed more in a similar time on the pitch. I am glad that each time he does get the ball he is been encouraged by the crowd and it is noticeable that he looks more confident on the ball. however he is entering the field of play when we are in front of games and for not very long thus i just feel that some are getting carried away. Good luck to him and i hope he continues to improve when he is required . He came on in front of Thompson so he must be impressing Parky.......

Wells was great, no doubt about it, but to be fair, they play in different positions and its not one or the other. I thought that in the games I have seen Aktinson, he has looked comfortable on the ball and we have been better with our ball retention than without him. I think that he has been a calming influence and has taken steam out of the opposition. Also he seems to be able to pass and move at pace and make himself available to receive. there are now players in the team who can also do this and I feel he fits in nicely with their style. you are right about not getting carried away though and to be honest I am not bothered if he starts or not. I like all the squad and the successl of the season it will be down to the squad. you could see the way Connell was charging about in the second half that he knew Wells was there to replace him, and therefore no need to pace himself. what a great attitude. I really hope that players who do get dropped to the bench do not feel they are being consigned to the reserves.

Victor Clayton wrote:

dannbradfc wrote: Just to add some balance to ths debate ,i still feel that the 'sudden' turn around in opinion over Atkinson isn't yet fully justified. He's barely featured in some games, yet has seemingly gone from someone who was poor last season to flavour of the month. I just feel that judgement should be reserved. On saturday he did the 'trick' on the bye-line but barely touched the ball otherwise. On Tuesday he made one great runaand shot, one good through ball for Nahki of serious note. he also made one poor pass and a less than strong challenge. Point been i'm not criticising him for the sake of it but feel that his contribution is been over-emphasised. Compare Nakhi's contribution when he came on. He tackled back numerous times, preventing one serious break away. made alot more passes and also managed to be a threat. Thus i'd debate that he contributed more in a similar time on the pitch. I am glad that each time he does get the ball he is been encouraged by the crowd and it is noticeable that he looks more confident on the ball. however he is entering the field of play when we are in front of games and for not very long thus i just feel that some are getting carried away. Good luck to him and i hope he continues to improve when he is required . He came on in front of Thompson so he must be impressing Parky.......

Wells was great, no doubt about it, but to be fair, they play in different positions and its not one or the other. I thought that in the games I have seen Aktinson, he has looked comfortable on the ball and we have been better with our ball retention than without him. I think that he has been a calming influence and has taken steam out of the opposition. Also he seems to be able to pass and move at pace and make himself available to receive. there are now players in the team who can also do this and I feel he fits in nicely with their style. you are right about not getting carried away though and to be honest I am not bothered if he starts or not. I like all the squad and the successl of the season it will be down to the squad. you could see the way Connell was charging about in the second half that he knew Wells was there to replace him, and therefore no need to pace himself. what a great attitude. I really hope that players who do get dropped to the bench do not feel they are being consigned to the reserves.

Fair response. I felt we held the ball much better on Tuesday even before he came on. A much better all round display. Atkinson like others will all have their part to play. The smaller squad means that there is much less chance of players been forgotten in the reserves and also perhaps potentially upsetting things.......

dannbradfc wrote:
Just to add some balance to ths debate ,i still feel that the 'sudden' turn around in opinion over Atkinson isn't yet fully justified. He's barely featured in some games, yet has seemingly gone from someone who was poor last season to flavour of the month. I just feel that judgement should be reserved. On saturday he did the 'trick' on the bye-line but barely touched the ball otherwise. On Tuesday he made one great runaand shot, one good through ball for Nahki of serious note. he also made one poor pass and a less than strong challenge. Point been i'm not criticising him for the sake of it but feel that his contribution is been over-emphasised. Compare Nakhi's contribution when he came on. He tackled back numerous times, preventing one serious break away. made alot more passes and also managed to be a threat. Thus i'd debate that he contributed more in a similar time on the pitch. I am glad that each time he does get the ball he is been encouraged by the crowd and it is noticeable that he looks more confident on the ball. however he is entering the field of play when we are in front of games and for not very long thus i just feel that some are getting carried away. Good luck to him and i hope he continues to improve when he is required . He came on in front of Thompson so he must be impressing Parky.......

Sorry Dann, but I just can't agree with you on this one. That doesn't say I am getting carried away by Atkinson, but I do believe you are not being fair on the lad.

You say we were keeping the ball well, even before Atkinson came on. I agree we were playing well, but for 10-15 mins before Will entered the field, we were starting to get pegged back and were sloppy with our passing. Atkinson definitely helped to address this when he came on.

As for, "he did one trick and nothing else of note", were you watching a different game to me? He made a couple of good runs, never gave the ball away (albeit some of his passes were backwards) and his tackling was strong. On Tuesday night, he continued in this vein, was unlucky not to score and was involved in the numours-pass-move that resulted in Reid scoring.

Don't get me wrong, he has to prove he can deliver for longer than 20-30 mins at the end of a game before I am totally won over, but let's be fair and give credit when it's due.

Waynus1971 wrote:

dannbradfc wrote: Just to add some balance to ths debate ,i still feel that the 'sudden' turn around in opinion over Atkinson isn't yet fully justified. He's barely featured in some games, yet has seemingly gone from someone who was poor last season to flavour of the month. I just feel that judgement should be reserved. On saturday he did the 'trick' on the bye-line but barely touched the ball otherwise. On Tuesday he made one great runaand shot, one good through ball for Nahki of serious note. he also made one poor pass and a less than strong challenge. Point been i'm not criticising him for the sake of it but feel that his contribution is been over-emphasised. Compare Nakhi's contribution when he came on. He tackled back numerous times, preventing one serious break away. made alot more passes and also managed to be a threat. Thus i'd debate that he contributed more in a similar time on the pitch. I am glad that each time he does get the ball he is been encouraged by the crowd and it is noticeable that he looks more confident on the ball. however he is entering the field of play when we are in front of games and for not very long thus i just feel that some are getting carried away. Good luck to him and i hope he continues to improve when he is required . He came on in front of Thompson so he must be impressing Parky.......

Sorry Dann, but I just can't agree with you on this one. That doesn't say I am getting carried away by Atkinson, but I do believe you are not being fair on the lad. You say we were keeping the ball well, even before Atkinson came on. I agree we were playing well, but for 10-15 mins before Will entered the field, we were starting to get pegged back and were sloppy with our passing. Atkinson definitely helped to address this when he came on. As for, "he did one trick and nothing else of note", were you watching a different game to me? He made a couple of good runs, never gave the ball away (albeit some of his passes were backwards) and his tackling was strong. On Tuesday night, he continued in this vein, was unlucky not to score and was involved in the numours-pass-move that resulted in Reid scoring. Don't get me wrong, he has to prove he can deliver for longer than 20-30 mins at the end of a game before I am totally won over, but let's be fair and give credit when it's due.

i've given him credit and accept he may have done more than i remember I do feel that Nakhi was the one who was involved with most of the keeping of the ball. he was looking for it and finding space. Atkinson was involved in some of this but feel some are understandably enjoying our current form and thus in danger of both not wanting to upset this nor looking negative when we are doing okay.

Atkinson has merely done okay for me when involved, nothing more nothing less......which is also improvement on last season. I hope he continues to improve and am not scapegoating anyone. Indeed i've usually defnded players who have had this sort of scrutiny before e.g. Oliver, Evans and even somewhat unbelieveably Hanson.....

Can we put this into perspective please? We have now 16 points on the board we had a nightmare of a season last year. The Stats have shown this season that there has been a transformation in this team. Let the team and management take some credit for the team they have built. We still get small minded comments on here from small minded so called fans. I personally think this team as a team is better than the team that won promotion from the old 4th division. We have strength in depth with a bit of flare in the squad. James Hanson's goal against Morcambe last week proved his critics wrong that he is not an all round player. If I can see that we have improved as a team and the stats back that up why can't some of you. I had a fiver on City to win 2-0 at 11/1. Come on city lets get through the next round of the C.O.C and get a big club home or away.