CITY lost 4-2 at Notts County yesterday lunchtime in League Two, as a first-half horror show left the visitors with no way back after the break.

T&A sports reporter NATHAN ATKINSON was at Meadow Lane yesterday and provides the match stats and his player ratings.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Defensively, Brad Halliday struggled a little before the break, but then, who didn’t? Yet he was one of City’s biggest attacking threats from the word go and he was magnificent after the interval in particular. He led the Bantams’ second-half press, defended better, crossed superbly, and grabbed a deserved assist when setting up Jamie Walker for the visitors’ second goal.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

City were dangerous on the attack throughout the game, and at 1-0 down 10 minutes before the break, they were right in the game. But the prolific Macaulay Langstaff got a telling touch off his knee to John Bostock’s shot to just divert the ball out of the reach of Harry Lewis and Ash Taylor and into the net for Notts’ second. City folded from there and the game was soon over.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

City’s first half, from a defensive standpoint, was embarrassing. All four goals were either too easy, or avoidable, sometimes both. Notts had oceans of space to work with in the Bantams half, with the players performing well below-par and Graham Alexander getting his tactics badly wrong in the opening 45 minutes.

TACTICS

Alexander brought in Lewis Richards at left-back, as expected, to replace the injured Liam Ridehalgh (concussion) and Daniel Oyegoke (shoulder).

It was the only change from last week’s line-up against Barrow, as Alexander stuck with the same 4-2-2-2 formation as in his first game.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Andy Cook failed to gel with Tyler Smith up front, and both had poor games.Andy Cook failed to gel with Tyler Smith up front, and both had poor games. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

City stood off Notts County, with catastrophic consequences, before the break.

In an attempt to salvage the wreckage, they switched to a 3-5-2 for the second half, with Ciaran Kelly and Matty Platt coming on for Bobby Pointon and Ash Taylor, and immediately looked more secure as a result.

The Bantams also pressed high up the pitch and with ferocious intensity in the second half.

That was a tactic that Mansfield and Wrexham had already used impressively to beat Notts at Meadow Lane this season, and it worked here too, as the Bantams were comfortably the better team in the second 45 minutes.

Halliday and Richards provided useful outlets down the flanks too in the second half, the former in particular, with their crossing a real threat.

REFEREE: Tom Reeves (Coventry)

BOOKINGS: McGoldrick, Adebayo, Baldwin (Notts County)

ATTENDANCE: 11,909 (2,276 from City)

POSSESSION: Notts 68% City 32%

SHOTS ON TARGET: Notts 8 City 6

SHOTS OFF TARGET: Notts 7 City 18

CORNERS: Notts 6 City 4

FOULS: Notts 3 City 12

PLAYER RATINGS

NOTTS: Slocombe 7, Brindley 6, Cameron 6 (Rawlinson 61min 6), Baldwin 6, Nemane 7, O’Brien 7 (Gosling 74min 6), Bostock 7 (Austin 61min 6), Randall 6 (Adebayo 61min 5), Crowley 8, McGoldrick 7 (Morias 81min 6), Langstaff 8. Subs (not used): Stone, Macari.

CITY: Lewis 6, Halliday 8, Taylor 5 (Platt 45min 6), Stubbs 4, Richards 6, Smallwood 5, Gilliead 7, Pointon 6 (Kelly 45min 6), Walker 7, Smith 5 (Wilson 71min 6), Cook 5. Subs (not used): Doyle, Oduor, Osadebe, Chapman.