1 week Ago
CITY 2 CREWE 0 BOBBY Pointon was four the last time City looked down on the rest of League Two. It was that long ago that Tottenham had just won a trophy. Portsmouth were FA Cup holders and Bournemouth were 91st in the football pyramid.
Fabio Capello was making a pig’s ear of England management and John Terry tripped over his penalty in the Champions' League final. It’s fair to say that lots has changed in the 6,042 days since the Bantams last led the rest in the fourth tier. A third of that division are now plying their trade in non-league – Bury, Darlington and Macclesfield have all gone bust and had to come back from scratch.
September 19, 2008 had proved a false dawn – the following afternoon Bournemouth, saddled by a minus-17 points penalty, won their first game of the season with a Darren Anderton master class at Valley Parade. There are no guarantees that the current lofty heights will be maintained for another month – especially with three of the remaining five games outside BD8. Are you gonna believe us? We’re going to win the league.
That’s what the University of Bradford Stadium sung with conviction at the final whistle. Graham Alexander rightly struck a more cautious tone afterwards. Enjoy the moment but then focus on Swindon – City’s next port of call on Saturday.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the giddiness that followed yet another home win as the Bantams broke the 50-point barrier for Valley Parade gains. If only it was as simple when they head out of West Yorkshire. Swindon, Chesterfield and Doncaster represent the key battlegrounds to turn the promotion dream into reality.
City can savour the rarified air of first place for the next week but the margin for error remains so fine. Fourth-placed Donny are still only three points behind – with that game in hand a week on Tuesday. The League Two leadership had already changed hands before the Bantams had even kicked off.
Port Vale continued their decent run by ending Walsall’s four-month reign with a win in the early game. Calum Kavanagh whips off his shirt after City's second goal (Image: Thomas Gadd) Alexander maintained that he was oblivious to who had come out on top because he was focused entirely on his own team. “I heard someone say it was 3-2 but I didn’t know to who and didn’t want to ask,” he claimed.
“I actually walked out the room because I didn’t want to hear. I didn’t know until the end of our game who had won. “Our destiny is in our hands, you don’t have to look at anybody else.
“I know everyone else will, supporters, CEOs, staff members. But us as coaching staff and players need to look at the next challenge. “It’s so important we don’t direct our focus anywhere else.
” Opposite number Lee Bell angrily accused his side of lacking any focus in the opening seconds as City made their incredible start. Bell raged that some of his players were still “messing with their socks” and oblivious to the imminent danger when City kicked off. Eleven seconds later and Valley Parade was celebrating the club’s quickest goal in history – taking only a second longer than the one the Bantams conceded to Ledley King for Spurs in their Premier League days.
Richie Smallwood swung the ball forward, George Lapslie knocked down, Calum Kavanagh “megged” his marker, hit the post, jabbed a second attempt into the path of Pointon and he did the rest. How wonderful that the City record books should be rewritten by a local lad with the club in his heart. Crewe’s first touch of the ball was goalkeeper Filip Marschall retrieving it from the back of his net.
Pointon was one of the three changes from the depressing night against Port Vale as Alexander also restored the back three that had kept the door firmly shut at Accrington the previous Saturday. Neill Byrne and Romoney Crichlow, playing his 50th City game, returned either side of Aden Baldwin – who inadvertently handed Crewe a way back as half-time approached when a cross bounced up and struck his arm. Referee Adam Herczeg stunned the Kop by pointing to the spot but Sam Walker had done his homework with Colin Doyle for such eventualities.
He anticipated the stutter step from Ryan Cooney’s run-up and guessed the right way to use every bit of his imposing 6ft 6in frame to reach the well-struck kick and push the ball behind. The impact of such a defining save was evident as his teammates clamoured to congratulate the big man. Valley Parade could breathe again.
Both teams made double changes at the break with Alexander removing Crichlow and Lapslie for Jack Shepherd and Brandon Khela. George Lapslie went off in the double change at half-time (Image: Thomas Gadd) City started to clock up the chances with Khela having two stabs at increasing the lead. Alex Pattison was back to his best with those darting runs into the box but a goal also eluded him.
The precarious nature of City’s advantage against an opponent with play-off ambitions of their own was clear when Crewe did have the ball in the net. Jack Lankester’s shot on the spin struck the far post with Walker beaten, sub Lewis Billington following up the rebound to turn it goalwards – only for Omar Bogle to get the final touch in an offside position. Maybe a hint of delayed justice in City’s eyes for the striker’s role in Pattison’s dismissal in the reverse fixture in December.
The comfort of a second goal finally arrived on 85 minutes as Crewe were caught out throwing men forward. Smallwood headed clear from the edge of his own box and Jamie Walker pumped a ball over the top. Crewe skipper Mickey Demetriou was the only blue shirt back and he misjudged the flight of it with Kavanagh bearing down on him.
The centre half could only nod the ball backwards to send the striker clear with just Marschall to beat. It called for a steady nerve and Kavanagh showed that as well as a silky touch, controlling the initial bounce with his knee, then bringing the ball under control before slotting past the keeper with an almost nonchalant air. Points secured, the Kop chorus could lead the chant of “we are top of the league”.
After the near-misses in recent weeks, there was no doubt this time. Now on to the next challenge of staying there..
