Bradford City boss Graham Alexander issues Corry Evans and Jay Benn updates following early withdrawals
Bradford City boss Graham Alexander has explained why Jay Benn and Corry Evans were withdrawn during the 1-0 win over Swindon Town.
Benn was on the floor as the half-time whistle blew and did not emerge for the second half, with Brad Halliday stepping in at right wing-back.
Alexander said: “He’s hurt his foot and his shin. I think it was a couple of challenges, consecutive, in about three minutes or so.
“Pins and needles in his foot, he couldn’t really put his full weight on it. It was an easy decision for us to make really. We had Brad on the bench, who played really well on Tuesday [against Stockport County in the EFL Cup]. That’s where we need to be, we need to have good players vying for each position.
“When we have that, we can keep the team strong. There was no qualms for me, making that decision with Jay and bringing Brad on, because of how well he played on Tuesday.”
Evans was the next to be substituted, leaving the pitch on the hour mark despite being one of Bradford’s better performers.
He was replaced by Antoni Sarcevic, marking his long-awaited return to action following an injury lay-off.
Alexander said: “Corry just started stiffening up a little bit and gave us the nod. There was a question I had to answer, whether I started Sarc or not.
“I felt Corry had done really well on Tuesday to earn that spot. I thought Sarc having no game time going into a full-blooded League Two game would be a bit of a risk. Fortunately for us, it’s worked out quite well. Corry’s started the game, Sarc has come on, we’ve won the game.
“I think it was just his calf. He wasn’t injured, he just said it started to stiffen up. He didn’t want to let us down, he said at half-time he wanted to see how it goes for 10 minutes. He gave us the nod, that’s not a problem.
“I’ve got real empathy for where he is physically because of what he’s done, it’s why I brought him off on Tuesday, because his performance was really good.
“But it was probably the perfect time for Sarc to come on and he showed some great touches, real good experience. He’s got a good physicality about him as well for those duels.”