After Bradford, Can We All Breathe Easier?

By Neil Ravenscroft
December 13 2004

The winning streak came to an end on Saturday, with the score draw at Bradford, but, in many ways, this was a much more pleasing result than the previous three. It looks as if we may be able to face the rest of the season with more confidence.

We had, before Saturday's game, won three on the trot, but there were still a lot of question marks. Stockport are so poor it would have been unacceptable to have not come away with three points, Peterborough looked every inch a team destined to struggle this season and Hartlepool have the worst away record in the football league. On top of that, the team's performances were hardly convincing in any of the games and, in the two home matches, we could easily have lost, we played so poorly in the first halves.

So, we managed to get a point away from home against Bradford? They had lost their previous two games and were missing their first choice strikers, so we should have been looking for a result, shouldn't we? Well, yes, we should, but it was the manner of getting it that was so pleasing.

We were the better side at Bradford and had to overcome losing our centre forward (Fryatt) and our centre half (Roper) early on through injury, yet still nearly won away at a team in the top five. This despite not having another defender on the bench, thanks to Emblen's injury and a left back playing centre half and a right winger at left back. Instead of capitulating, the team managed to overcome its difficulties and gain a worthwhile point.

Whether Paul Merson will ever make a football manager remains a moot point, but the recent run, once he managed to survive the Slough disaster, means that he will remain in charge for the rest of the season, barring a disastrous slip back into the relegation zone and fans should accept that. Whether he can maintain the current run and get the team into the play off spot it should be in, given the lack of quality now apparent in this division, however, depends on him solving several problems he has failed in so far, especially the team strengthening highlighted by our paucity of resources on Saturday. He has, at last, realised the problems with the 4 3 1 2 formation away from home and is playing Leitao slightly deeper, giving a semblance of 4 4 2 and that has improved matters. His attempts (if futile from the start, given his place in Manchester United's Champion's League Squad) to get Kieran Richardson on loan also show that he appreciates the need for a left winger. There may yet be better times to come.