CITY 1 GILLINGHAM 2

THE season may be less than a fortnight old but the murmur of discontent at Valley Parade is growing.

There is a familiar football chant about being 1-0 up and, ahem, blowing it.... at the moment that seems to be the adopted Bantams anthem.

If games finished at half-time, City would be sitting pretty on maximum points. As it is, they currently support the rest of the fledgling League One table after another interval advantage was squandered.

This early into the campaign, optimism among the supporters is already fading. The manner of throwing away each game from a winning position is understandably taking its toll.

The season may be the proverbial marathon and not a sprint but City haven’t got their running spikes on yet. The boos that greeted the final whistle showed what the fans thought.

Phil Parkinson’s decision to persist with a midfield diamond ruffled some feathers among the home support after the stodgy fare against Shrewsbury.

The personnel had changed – Tony McMahon returned in the holding role with Billy Knott replacing the unfortunate Billy Clarke in the spot behind front pair James Hanson and Luke James.

Gary Liddle dropped back to centre half as Alan Sheehan, Saturday’s man of the match, ousted the out-of-sorts James Meredith at left back. Pre-match capture Brad Jones began his City career on the bench.

Gillingham have been regulars on City’s fixture list over the last decade or so and enjoyed their fair share of decent results. Parkinson had managed only one win in eight previous meetings in charge – and none in four at Valley Parade; some things unfortunately don’t change.

The Kent side arrived in West Yorkshire unbeaten, including a 4-0 spanking of title favourites Sheffield United on opening day.

That confidence was evident in the opening exchanges with a flurry of early efforts on goal, Luke Norris testing Ben Williams with a flick header and Rory Donnelly curling over.

But it was City who struck the decisive early blow after eight minutes. The credit went to Knott for some bright work to catch the visitors napping.

He reached the bye-line from a quick throw-in and Hanson slipped his marker to tap in the cross from a couple of yards.

It was the big man’s second goal of the season, following on from his late and ultimately in-vain leveller at York a week ago. But significantly it broke a duck in the league stretching back to mid-February.

And amazingly, it was only the second time he had hit the Valley Parade net in a league game in a year!

So for the fourth time running, the Bantams had drawn first blood. It was a script the crowd knew well.

City needed no reminding of the dangers of any complacency and Ben Williams showed good reflexes to deny Bradley Dack his fourth goal in as many games for the Gills.

His powerful run and shot forced a one-handed save from the home keeper, clearly making a point to his incoming rival in the dug-out.

The goal had been City’s only effort in the first half-hour and Gillingham continued to keep them on their toes, the livewire Dack especially.

City were forced into a change before the break as Chris Routis limped off with a hamstring problem, giving Paul Anderson another hour to push his starting claims.

Gillingham could count themselves hard done by to be trailing as their own shot tally continued to rise – it was up to nine by the break. But City were sticking at it, epitomised by the hard-running James who willingly chased down the channels without any end result.

It was yet another 1-0 interval advantage, although unlike the previous three this had been against the run of play. But for all the Gillingham efforts, Williams had only needed to make one proper save.

The Kop cranked up the volume for the second period, conscious of playing their part in City seeing through an interval advantage at last.

The noise was still booming as yet another half-time lead crumbled seven minutes in.

Dack tried to burst through but City failed to clear their lines and the ball broke to Norris who drilled past Williams at the near post from 20 yards.

In terms of general play it was no more than Gillingham deserved. But it was the latest in a growing list of sucker punches for the Bantams – each time within ten minutes of the re-start.

A familiar uncertainty descended and passes went astray. Gillingham were sensing more than just one point as Dack curled over from an acute angle.

Sheehan nearly restored the positive vibes when he slipped in unnoticed to meet a Josh Morris free-kick. But he could not direct the free header on target – and thumped and kicked the floor in frustration at wasting a gilt-edged chance.

Parkinson threw on Steve Davies for Morris with 20 minutes left to add a bit more bite to the attack.

But it was Gillingham looking the most likely to break the stalemate as Norris saw his shot deflected across goal off Rory McArdle – and they struck again from the corner.

Adedeji Oshilaja was claiming the goal from Brennan Dickenson’s set-piece but the final touch appeared to have come off Hanson’s head. Whatever, it knocked the stuffing out of the place.

Parkinson responded with his final sub as the eager James made way for Mark Marshall. But the atmosphere had predictably fallen flat.

Davies did well to fire off a shot on the turn straight at Stuart Nelson but the anxiety around the place was obvious.

City won only their second corner of the night but Nelson got enough on it through the crowd to see off any threat. Another game was slipping away.

They might still have rescued it in stoppage time but Hanson’s close-range header from a Marshall cross was somehow kept out by Nelson. A yard either side and City would have grabbed a point but it was a fine reaction stop.

CITY: Williams 6; Darby 5, McArdle 6, Liddle 6, Sheehan 6; Routis 6 (Anderson 33, 5), McMahon 5, Morris 5 (Davies 68), Knott 5; James 7 (Marshall 75), Hanson 6. Subs (not used): Meredith, N Clarke, Leigh, Jones.

GILLINGHAM: Nelson 7; Jackson 7, Egan 7, Oshilaja 7, Dickenson 7; Wright 7, Houghton 7, Hessenthaler 7 , Dack 8; Donnelly 7, Norris 8 (Williamson 82). Subs (not used): Garmston, Ehmer, McGlashan, Oldaker, List, Morris.