Bradford City 1 Mansfield Town 0: Acrobatic moment from Antoni Sarcevic provides relief in testing week
YOU had to go back to late January for the last time Bradford City lost three successive league matches.
In terms of losing consecutive home games at league level, it was considerably longer.
Try March 2024 - a month which saw Mansfield Town win 5-1 in this part of West Yorkshire.
Graham Alexander did not need any further reminding about that and has never been keen to drag up history, in his words.
The here and now is what matters and Bradford got back to winning ways at a place which they pride themselves upon being a fortress.
Excellent in the first half, with former Bantams keeper Harry Lewis - promoted back to the starting line-up after Liam Roberts was withdrawn ahead of kick-off with his problematic foot injury flaring up - doing his best to frustrate his former employers, City had to dig in a bit more on the restart.
A splendid acrobatic volley from captain Antoni Sarcevic on 18 minutes won it on the day. It constitutes a first league win in five matches against the Stags. Even if Alexander is not fussed about history. There you have it.
Just like City seven days ago, Mansfield headed into a game on the back of a tough turnaround. In their case, less than 72 hours after taking the field at Reading.
It was certainly a tough loss with a capital t - by five unanswered goals in a funny week which had seen the Stags kick off with a 5-2 victory over Luton Town.
This Valley Parade was the final game of a testing Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday itinerary.
City made two defensive changes with debutant George Pratt and Matt Pennington coming in for Macaulay Gillesphey and Reece Welch.
The hosts, whose bench included new signing Kieran Morgan, heaved a sigh of relief early on when Jon McCracken made a key save to keep out Michael Smith’s header following Kyle Knowle’s cross from the right.
They proceeded to dust themselves and dominate the rest of the half with a trademark performance brimful of intensity at BD8 and everything good about the Alexander era.
It saw them lead at the interval, thanks to Sarcevic’s fine moment. A couple more goals would not have flattered those in claret and amber; that they didn’t was mainly down to Lewis.
That said, he could do nothing about Sarcevic’s cracker.
Philips spotted the run of the overlapping Josh Neufville. Jake Beesley won the air miles to his hanging high cross. As Mansfield’s defence prevaricated, he won a second header which was seized in a flash by Sarcevic, who showed excellent technique with his hooked effort.
With Sarcevic and Bobby Pointon causing problems and the likes of Adam Phillips and Neufville not far behind, it proved a difficult half for Mansfield.
Aside from Sarcevic’s effort, Lewis proved a resolute last line of defence and was not to be moved.
He made two blocks to deny Phillips - his second was heroic - and also frustrate a former team-mate in Pointon, after the Stags were opened up, not for the first time.
A half-chance ahead of the break at the other end saw Smith’s weak shot held after referee Zac Kennard-Kettle overlooked claims for a handball against George Maris.
But it was comfortably City’s half, one which ended with Phillips’ low volley from a tight angle flashing agonisingly across goal.
Still, on the restart you wanted to see their ruthless side.
In a bid to change the narrative, Stags chief Nigel Clough made two attack-minded changes with David McGoldrick and Rhys Oates entering the fray.
The visitors made the early running on the resumption, but without creating a juicy chance. And with McGoldrick around, it was in City’s best interests to find a killer second.
Mansfield then managed to get the ball in the net courtesy of Smith’s touch close to the goalline from Deji Oshilaja’s looping header. But McCracken had clearly been impeded by the big striker and the effort was ruled out, rightly.
Given the narrow scoreline, there was a fair amount of tension starting to creep in among home punters.
As the clock ticked into the last ten minutes, Neufville cut inside and saw a shot deflected over.
Late on, Callum Connolly’s effort was grasped by Lewis before Matt Pennington made a key scrambled clearance following a dangerous angled shot from substitute Tyler Roberts.
Bradford City: McCracken; Pennington, Baldwin, Pratt; Neufville, Connolly, Sarcevic (Cartwright 65), Touray (Gillesphey 91); Phillips (Jackson 66), Pointon (Powell 71); Beesley. Substitutes unused: Dawson, Welch, Morgan.
Mansfield Town: Lewis; Knoyle (Hewitt 64), Oshilaja, Sweeney, Blake-Tracey; Reed (Bolton 65); Moriah-Welch (Oates HT), Maris, Thompson; Hendry (McGoldrick HT), Smith (T Roberts 80). Substitutes unused: Dodgson.
Referee: Z Kennard-Kettle (Berkshire).
Attendance: 19,927 (1,704 Mansfield supporters).