Bradford City 1-2 Wolves

 Yesterday, Wolves moved into the promotion slots with a 2-1 win at Bradford City. Raffaele De Vita gave Bradford an early lead, but Wolves hit backs with goals from James Henry and Richard Stearman to secure the victory.

- Wolves boss Kenny Jackett made two changes to the side that beat Oldham in the week. Perhaps surprisingly Kevin Doyle again watched from the sidelines as David Davis replaced Jack Price and Richard Stearman deputised for the injured Matt Doherty. The midfield has obviously been an issue this season (and has been pretty much since Newton, Cameron, Ince and Kennedy drove Wolves to playoff victory ten years ago), and this is demonstrated by the choices Jackett is making. Lee Evans had missed a number of matches, not even being available on the bench, but started against Oldham and Bradford. David Davis did well as a sub against Coventry, wasn't in the matchday squad against Oldham but started at Bradford. Jack Price was poor before being subbed against Coventry, kept his place and did well against Oldham but wasn't in the 18 picked today. I can understand picking Davis today in a game that would always be a scrap in midfield, but I'm not 100% sure why David Edwards is permanently on the bench while the other midfielders are either in or out. 

- Of course the one midfielder I've not spoken about is the one that will be discussed all week. Jamie O'Hara made a low key return to the Wolves first team, being an unused substitute. The reaction of most fans seemed to be surprise that he was included, and there were a smattering of boos when his name was read out pre-game. It'll be interesting to see over the coming weeks whether he is being reintegrated into the first team, and whether he still has a future at the club. Certainly, I'd like to know Jack Price's thoughts - I thought Price did well on Tuesday, but yesterday wasn't in the matchday squad despite traveling to Yorkshire. While the midfield hasn't yet clicked, I'd rather give Price and Evans the chances to improve and establish themselves than O'Hara. I do think that O'Hara has avoided controversy this since THAT game at Brighton, playing for the under 21s, and that if his attitude had been poor, there is no way that Jackett would be prepared to bring him back into the fold. 

- So, the game itself. Bradford started the game at a ridiculously high tempo, pressing our players into mistakes. They got the ball forward quickly and their forwards caused Danny Batth and Sam Ricketts plenty of problems in the air. Both Batth and Ricketts will wake up today with bruised bodies, such was the aerial onslaught from Bradford. Bradford's directness definitely unsettled our defence, and they were probably good value for the lead. They had earlier had a similar chance to open the scoring, but Sam Ricketts did well to get across and Kyel Reid who was waiting for the ball to drop. There was nothing particularly subtle about Bradford's attack, but it was effective and will trouble an awful lot of teams this season.

- But, Bradford couldn't keep that tempo up for the entire 90 minutes and they started to sit back a little once they had taken the lead. Before hand, when we had tried to get the ball down and play, we automatically had a couple of Bradford players making a quick tackle. But once they scored, we were able to get our foot on the ball and start to play a little bit more football. For the rest of the first half, we were the better team, and deserved the half time lead. The equaliser was the second fortunate goal that James Henry has scored this week, while he assisted Richard Stearman's winning header. Henry has been very impressive since arriving, providing a balance to the team that we've not had for a number of years. I think he clearly a step above this level, and it's nice that teams can no longer put three men on Bakary Sako and kill our creativity.

- Kenny Jackett made an early substitution, taking off Lee Evans for Kevin Doyle. This was the second time recently that Doyle has been on the bench and vastly improved the team when he's been introduced. I felt a little sorry for Evans when he was taken off - he was by no means the worst player in the side at that point. I think he was taken off purely because he was the most advanced of the three central midfielders. Keeping Davis on was a no brainer as he's the only midfielder who would relish the sort of physical battle that was happening in the middle of the park. But Kevin McDonald could also have been taken off, and I think he's a player who perhaps needs to start upping his game. Sheffield United rated him highly enough to build their team around him, but at the moment he seems to be floating around the periphery of matches. I definitely think he has the ability to dominate games and be the dominant force of the midfield, but as yet he has done this.

- Bradford again upped their game in the second half, playing at a far higher tempo again and stopping Wolves from playing. They had a lot of pressure, and forced Carl Ikeme into a couple of sprawling stops and an another day could easily have grabbed an equaliser. Again, we didn't really close the game out, something which has often been a problem this season. We have conceded too many goals in the final ten minutes of a game for it to be a coincidence, and I don't think any Wolves fan would be confident when if we go into the end of a game with only a single goal lead. Saying that, with a little bit more composure and better decision making, we could have nicked a third on the counter attack, which probably would have been slightly harsh on Bradford.

- Kenny Jackett made two second substitutions, with Björn Sigurðarson coming on for his weekly ten minute run out, presumably to try and utilise his pace on the counter attack. But, the best forward we've had come off the bench when hanging on to a game this season was Jake Cassidy who was excellent at Shrewsbury in holding the ball up and helping to draw the sting from the game. Jackett's other substitution was to take off Richard Stearman for Ethan Ebanks-Landell. At the times of writing, I'm not sure whether Stearman had an injury, but he he didn't go off for treatment when he left the pitch. If Stearman wasn't injured, then this substitution was quite peculiar. I didn't see anything in Ebanks-Landell that made me think he was more suited to preventing Bradford from scoring. In fact, the opposite was true and Ebanks-Landell regularly gave the ball away which invited further pressure on the defence. If Stearman do pick up a knock, then I'd hope that Kevin Foley is selected next week, a player who was probably not to be selected at right back anyway.