By CCFC Sid
November 6 2003

If ever there was a video to be made on how NOT to play football, it would probably look something like CCFC's performance against Bradford. Ball control seemed an alien concept to Morrell and Suffo, while McAllister and Safri were virtually anonymous.... The first half was truly awful, with only the firework displays from the houses near the ground keeping supporters awake - the noise from the surrounding area being more Baghdad than Highfield Road.

True, Bradford kept every player behind the ball for the entire match, and looked as if they had agreed to play for 0-0 before stepping off the team bus, but CCFC never really tested Coombs in the Bradford goal - though they might have gone closer had Adebola played as a striker for CCFC rather than a defender for Bradford (Clearing twice for them when it was easier to score at least once for CCFC).

There was almost 8,000 less supporters in comparison with last weekends match against WHU (It's time CCFC dropped the price for midweek matches, as people just cannot be bothered to turn up), and those that did turn up were almost silent for the first hour, with the exception of barracking Nicky S(c)ummerbee - who quite rightly will never be forgiven for the way he disgracefully ended the career of Steve Froggatt.

He did nothing to help matters, being involved in a `handbags at 10 paces' incident with Morrell after 36 minutes, and was booked for a typical S(c)ummerbee challenge after 56 minutes. Former Wolves man Branch won the worst tackle of the night award though, with a challenge Richard Shaw was lucky to get up from....

Only Konjic and Whing looked as if they might help break the dead-lock for CCFC, both having inspired performances, with Konjic being the closest to scoring for CCFC on a number of occasions - and also saving them from going behind at the other end of the pitch too. Having been criticised for his poor passing recently, Konjic used the ball intelligently tonight, and hit one superb 60 yard pass (Having taken the urine out of Windass first), which just reached the Bradford keeper as Suffo closed in.

There were, or should have been chances created in the first half, but a few one-against-one situations were wasted as CCFC waited, and allowed Bradford to get back in numbers, and Doyle had two efforts that went just wide of the target. Embarrassingly though, it was Bradford who had the better chances in the first half, with Arphexad making a number of fine saves to deny the visitors.

Minutes into the second half Morrell was given a chance to break forward, but he lost the ball with ease - though somehow CCFC ended up winning a corner! From it, McAllister finally picked out a CCFC shirt, though the effort failed to trouble the Bradford defence. Normal service was resumed minutes later as a McAllister corner was easily caught by Coombs in the Bradford goal.

Adebola replaced Barrett on 59 minutes, and for a few minutes it looked an inspired substitution - though he soon resorted to the Adebola that infuriates rather than inspires. Soon after this, Bradford decided time wasting was the best way to ensure taking a point form the match, with the referee failing to even warn them about this tactic, let alone actually booking anybody.

The last half hour was mainly the `Mo Show', with the CCFC favourite heading a corner just wide on the hour, a surging run ending with a superb cross being headed away rather than at goal by Suffo, getting in behind the Bradford defence after a superb pin-point Warnock free-kick had picked him out, only for nobody to get on the end of his cross, and playing a superb one-two with Safri after 85 minutes, only for the Bradford keeper to finally have something to do, saving Konjic's effort.

In between, Morrell put Adebola through, but the keeper took the ball off him before he could shoot, and a smart Adebola turn and shot was went just wide of the keepers post after 75 minutes. For Bradford (Who finally managed a second half attack after 83 minutes), Windass was given the opportunity to win the match for them, heading just over after nipping between two CCFC defenders.

A game of ping-pong in the Bradford goal should have seen CCFC take the lead at the end of normal time, and Warnock almost stole the points for CCFC in injury time. He blasted an effort goalwards, but his effort was somehow cleared, with the 11,800 CCFC fans that had suffered a disappointing 90 minutes finally being given a reason to get excited (The other 62 of the attendance of 11,862 being Bradford fans).

Boos greeted the team as the full-time whistle was blown, as CCFC once again failed to beat a very poor side....