Crewe Alexanda v Bradford City: Taylor out to get one over old friend

LEAGUE TWO: Peter Taylor will put aside a friendship going back almost 30 years as Bradford City try to give their season a major lift ahead of a busy festive season.

By The Newsroom

Published 17th Dec 2010, 23:23 BST

Updated 17th Dec 2010, 23:25 BST

The Bantams take on Dario Gradi's Crewe Alexandra sitting four points adrift of the play-offs.

The City manager, whose side beat Hereford United in their last game, said: "Dario is first-class in every way. We have known each other a long time as he was reserve team coach when I was a player at Orient in the early 1980s and his enthusiasm is the same now as it was back then.

"He loves football and you only have to look at some of the players he has brought through at Crewe to see what a marvellous job he has done.

"I had a few of them when I was England Under-21s manager, lads like Seth Johnson and Dean Ashton. I could tell straight away they had learned the game under Dario.

"This is such a tight division that a good Christmas and New Year could make all the difference to a team's prospects of doing well this season."