Brief Synopsis!!! (Bradford)

[Ghost]

I thought Vyner and Bradley were my men of the match. They both seem to read the game really well and seemed rock solid all game

Spot on.

 

[onthegreen]

Today I thought we suddenly switched a mental switch from paying relaxed, on the front foot attacking with flair football, to a more cagey, nervousness especially before the first goal went in - deflection. And to be honest we didn't look like we were going to add to it. Even the crowd were nervous.
Bradford started 442, but both teams were very cagey. Bradford happy not to concede and Argyle not wanting to push too hard.
Argyle kept the ball on the deck, Bradford did their best to spoil at every opportunity with niggly fouls. Once Argyle scored the pace of the game increased with Bradford being more purposeful.
Second half Bradford went 3 at the back, three midfield a 4 up, which dominated possession. We lost the midfield and decided to hold on the what we had.
I'm a little concerned that now we are in the top 6 we will begin to adopt a 'must not lose' approach which was a disaster before December, rather than lets be determined to enjoy it and go for it !!
Hope I'm proved wrong

 

[r4h4al]

Played very well very professional performance. Sat on a 1-0 basically but if we're able to do that then why not?

Ref was crap I think, apart from getting the red right, looked like a deliberate elbow to the face, but at that point in the game, it didn't matter anyway about the decision.

Rode our luck really today with the deflected goal and then in the second half Bradford could have had a couple of penalties but that's what happens when you go on a good run.

 

[Nobby]

Excellent all round first half, excellent defensively in the second.

Matthews - 7 - Didnt have a save to make
Sawyer - 7 - Standard
Bradley - 9 - Won everything!
Vyner - 9 - Won everything else.
Threlkeld - 8 - Solid and good on the ball.
Fox - 7 - Quiet from him but thats what he does!
Sarcevic - 7 - Got around well.
Ness - 9 - He was excellent all round, a real shame his late chip didnt find the bottom corner.
Carey - 7 - Nothing special, but did well.
Lameiras - 7 - Fantastic for the first 20, faded after.
Taylor - 6 - Hard day, but he was awful second half.

On we go!

 

[derbygreen]

Very flat game and atmosphere too imho. Bradford were nothing special and if we raised our game and tempo them we could have finished them off easily. Bradford fans were a credit to their club. They kept singing and getting behind their team. I was expecting a few more there today as just over 11k but I'll take the win and we move on a step closer to securing hopefully a playoff place.

 

[Cobi Budge]

We kept a good team very quiet & performed well ourselves. Great shift from all of the players & management.

 

[IJN]

I didn't think it was an ugly game today, very technical and well fought by both sides.

We could do this you know??????

 

[slingsbypobble]

Today I thought we suddenly switched a mental switch from paying relaxed, on the front foot attacking with flair football, to a more cagey, nervousness especially before the first goal went in - deflection. And to be honest we didn't look like we were going to add to it. Even the crowd were nervous.
Bradford started 442, but both teams were very cagey. Bradford happy not to concede and Argyle not wanting to push too hard.
Argyle kept the ball on the deck, Bradford did their best to spoil at every opportunity with niggly fouls. Once Argyle scored the pace of the game increased with Bradford being more purposeful.
Second half Bradford went 3 at the back, three midfield a 4 up, which dominated possession. We lost the midfield and decided to hold on the what we had.
I'm a little concerned that now we are in the top 6 we will begin to adopt a 'must not lose' approach which was a disaster before December, rather than lets be determined to enjoy it and go for it !!
Hope I'm proved wrong

I don't know if you were at the Oxford game OTG but a lot of what you've said rings true of that game. Obviously a different situation playing away from home but it wasn't a confident, flowing, attacking game that we played.

 

[The Doctor]

We made hard work of that but it’s the win and three points that matter. Bradford were nothing special but we just didn’t hold the ball well enough and allowed them to come at us which they did but fortunately not that well. In the end, the match stats do show that we dominated the game.

I thought Bradley was excellent but the player I was most impressed with today was Jamie Ness, who is now showing why Derek Adams signed him in the summer.

 

[Cobi Budge]

I didn't think it was an ugly game today, very technical and well fought by both sides.

We could do this you know??????

It wasn't ugly, it was just tight and both teams cancelled eachother out at times, however I definitely thought we deserved the win on the balance of play.

 

[Biggs]

We are in the top 6 and if we do make it, it’s likely the three other sides will be Shrewsbury, Rotherham and Scunthorpe.

Smaller clubs than Argyle, with smaller support. Plus we have the momentum (as do Rotherham admittedly).

We really could be in the Championship in a few months.... incredible.

 

[nick_PASTIE]

Perfect February- manager of the month for Derek surely on.

Decent performance against a dangerous team. Agree with many posters on the gamesmanship of Bradford, lots of breaking up play and off the ball challenges which ref seemed to think were fine. The red was a definite elbow contact although I wonder if Sonny made a meal of it to sway the red- Wykes suspension will probably hurt them.

Thought the team looked a little too relaxed going forward with over trickiness in the first half. Goal was lucky but deserved win overall.

Defence excellent and so well drilled. Vyner looks a great prospect and full backs kept their wide men generally quiet.

Ref was odd, didn’t help flow but didn’t get a lot wrong overall.

Now we need a perfect March to cement our contention.

 

[skynet]

It was a nasty elbow by Charlie Wyke on Bradley, who had Wyke in his pocket all afternoon. Now Bradley is fit and not playing through an injury he looks twice the player he was early season.

 

[green forever]

It was a very scrappy game, as both teams were attempting to cancel each other out, due to what was at stake. No one really had much time on the ball and we were at each other's throats. At the end of the day we have ground out 3 points (and the double over Bradford, who not that long ago were fighting for automatic promotion). That's 4 straight wins in February; who would have thought that would happen when you consider we have played both Blackburn & Shrewsbury. Let's just keep our momentum going and see where it takes us.

 

[Steve Evans]

a very enjoyable match that argyle thoroughly deserved to win.i thought bradford were a very physical side especially when they were fouling the excellent carey.sonny and zak vyner were superb,what a player young zak is!our midfield were magnificent with sarcevic,ness and fox dominating city.as usual carey,who was marked by two men,and lameiras were unmarkable.both full backs were very solid and ryan up front battled and took plenty of knocks for the cause.in remi matthews we have a very street wise 'keeper in that he knows how to run the clock down by playing a little football when he receives back passes.well done to all the staff for our justifiable win.my ratings;

Remi Matthews - 9
Oscar Threlkeld - 9
Zak Vyner - 10
Sonny Bradley - 10
Gary Sawyer - 9
David Fox - 10
Jamie Ness - 9
Antoni Sarcevic - 9
Ruben Lameiras - 10
Graham Carey - 10
Ryan Taylor - 9
my man of the match was graham. :thumbup: