Bradford City 4-1 Colchester United: Bantams thrill bumper crowd

By Chris Park

BRADFORD C 4

Kavanagh 31, 70, Lapslie 41, 78

COLCHESTER U 1

Anderson 36

Graham Alexander described Bradford City as “relentless” after they saw off in-form Colchester United in front of a packed-out Valley Parade.

Calum Kavanagh and George Lapslie both scored twice in front of a 23,381 crowd – the largest at Valley Parade for a fourth-tier game.

The Bantams’ win, after suffering successive defeats, puts them a point behind leaders Walsall.

Afterwards, manager Alexander was full of praise for his side.

Relentless

He said: “I thought we were absolutely relentless.

“Any knockback in the game, like conceding, we just got on with it.

“We didn’t feel sorry for ourselves or panic and we played some brilliant football.

“We pressed Colchester all the time – we were so trusting of each other and committed to our game – we were us and didn’t try to change anything after the previous two results.

“It was great to watch and be a part of.

“I was extremely proud of the squad today.

“Colchester came here with their tails up.

“They are a good team and have just got into the play-offs so [we] were in [a] confident mood.

“Why wouldn’t they try and come here and win?

“But I thought we played well last week without a real cutting edge – but today we had that and could have scored a couple more.

“It was an occasion because we knew there was going to be a record crowd.

“We knew they would be an expectant crowd – but I think they’ll be a happy one after that.”

Match action

Neill Byrne headed just over as Bradford turned the screw in the first half before they took a 32nd-minute lead when Kavanagh prodded home Brad Halliday’s centre.

Colchester equalised four minutes later with Harry Anderson lashing home the rebound after Jack Payne’s shot was blocked.

But Lapslie restored the home side’s lead before the break, nodding in Tayo Adaramola’s cross.

Colchester looked to respond again as Payne fired over from 20 yards and Owura Edwards slid the ball past a post after going clear.

Colchester keeper Matt Macey did well to claw away Romoney Crichlow’s header, but Kavanagh struck his second after good work from on-loan Birmingham midfielder Brandon Khela.

Lapslie then completed a double of his own when he slid in to convert a drilled pass by substitute Bobby Pointon and seal an emphatic win.

Disappointed

Colchester manager Danny Cowley said: “Bradford were excellent today, very powerful and purposeful and found a really good tempo to the way they played.

“We’ve had a difficult week with three or four who’ve been unwell and we were really struggling with Lyle [Taylor], Jack Payne and Ellis [Iandolo] in particular.

“Having said that, after a really good start to the game, we’re really disappointed at how we defended crosses.

“What happens in these big games playing in front of 23,000, when you give the opponents something, momentum plays a huge part in football and it got their crowd up.

“It was a poor first goal and then a great response from us to get the equaliser.

“We needed to manage our emotions in that moment but we didn’t defend well enough.

“If you watched our whole performance, there were some good and bad parts to it.”

Player ratings

Bradford City: Walker 6, CrichlowNoble 7 (Kelly 73, 6), Baldwin 7, Byrne 6 (Huntington 83, 6), Adaramola 8 (Pattison 83, 6), Smallwood 7, Khela 8, Halliday 8, Wright 8 (Pointon 73, 6), Lapslie 9, Kavanagh 8 (Walker 83, 6). Subs not used: Hilton, Mellon.

Colchester United: Macey 6, Hunt 6 (Simpson 65, 6), Flanagan 7, Kelleher 6, Egbo 6, Iandolo 7, Read 6, Edwards 6 (Gordon 65, 6), Payne 7 (Thorn 82, 6), Anderson 7, Taylor 6 (Scully 73, 6). Subs not used: Smith, Tucker, Vincent-Young.