Having watched Reading in this league for over three seasons now, I regularly bemoan the lack of quality on display from teams across the division (and I absolutely include ourselves in that).
However, my overriding thought after this afternoon is that Bradford City are a serious outfit at this level. And, I think if the question were posed to Leam Richardson, I’m pretty sure he’d say that the way Bradford play isn’t far away at all from the vision he has for us.
They’re defensively very, very solid,
and transition from defensive into attack quickly and effectively. I’m in no doubt they will be there or thereabouts come May next year.
This piece won’t be a Bradford love-in in its entirety, I promise, but it can only be a good thing that a mismatched, sketchy performance from our perspective was still enough to get a point against a machine as well-oiled as the Bantams.
You could argue the visitors’ showing was even more impressive, having lost manager Graham Alexander in the run-up to the game, and there was the added layer – albeit not very heavy one – of Richardson being in the frame to replace him.
However, come this afternoon, all eyes were very much on the football and only that. And, even before a football was kicked, it didn’t start very well, with Jack Marriott nowhere to be seen when the teams were released.
Reading (4-2-3-1): Pereira; Godwin-Malife, O’Connor, Ward, Roberts; Rinomhota, Wing; Lisbie, Stokes, Lane; Brown
Subs: Stevens, Ahmed, Masterson, Fraser, Kyerewaa, Williams, Reid
First half
And salt was rubbed into the proverbial wounds not long after the football started. Despite a bright start from the Royals, Bradford worked a really nice opener, with a Haydon Roberts-esque cross from Pointon met by a Jack Marriott-esque header from Beesley. 0-1 to Bradford.
And falling behind to Bradford early on shouldn’t exactly be top of your priority list, just ask Luton Town. However, to be fair to Reading, they dug in and kept huffing and puffing, but that end quality was lacking for the rest of the first half.
Once again, the bulk of the bright moments tended to come through Kyreece Lisbie, but without his mate Marriott at the top end of the pitch – coupled with a more than stubborn Bradford defence – we just couldn’t find a way back into the game.
Half time: 0-1
You’d hope a bit of a kick up the jacksie from Richardson at half-time, and a few tactical tweaks here and there, would inject a bit more life into the team. But in all truth, it was the visitors who assured themselves after the break.
They controlled the game very well, and we just couldn’t build any kind of meaningful momentum. It was also no coincidence that our dip in positive attacking moments correlated with Lisbie not getting involved as much in things as he was in the first half (honestly, what a joy it is to have a winger like him in your team).
However, we kept ourselves in the game, and when you do that, all you need is one chance to turn your fortunes around.
And when a long throw from sub Randell Williams fell loose in the box, although I don’t think Dokes would’ve been many fans’ first choice for who they would’ve wanted it to fall to, the right-back was there to grab his first goal in blue and white hoops. 1-1.
With the goal came not only a great personal moment for Dokes, but also a huge opportunity to shift momentum and get a statement result against the league leaders. But – and I know I said this wouldn’t be a love-in for the visitors – it was actually Bradford who took the game on after we scored. And that is really frustrating.
Yes, they’re a good team, but you can’t let an away team manage the game the way we let them after we’d just scored an equaliser with half an hour to go. Other than a counter-attack that Daniel Kyerewaa should’ve done a lot better with, we didn’t create anything after Dokes’ goal.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the pitch, thanks mainly to an archetypal cameo substitution performance from Nick Powell, Bradford City kept looking stronger and stronger.
However, neither team could find a way through in the last few minutes and the game ended a point a piece.
Full time: 1-1
It’s a tricky one to conclude, really. It was such an up-and-down performance; we looked strong in five- or 10-minute bursts but struggled to really manage the game on a bigger scale than that. And that’s becoming a bit of a recurring theme at the moment.
But it’s also worth remembering we’re still early in our journey to where we want to get to. As mentioned earlier, I genuinely think the way Bradford play is where Richardson wants to get us to eventually, but we’re just a bit earlier in our journey at the moment.
We should be targeting a win in every home game, absolutely, but today’s result is by no means the end of the world.
