Bradford City boss Graham Alexander on not going 'for the throat' at Stevenage
BRADFORD CITY manager Graham Alexander was left frustrated his team didn’t press home their advantage at League One rivals Stevenage as they had to settle for a point.
Both teams knew the prize for victory would be a place on top of the League One table – but neither could manage it as they played out a 1-1 draw.
The pace of the game was unrelenting throughout and it started brilliantly for the visitors to the Lamex Stadium, as they went ahead after three minutes.
Ibou Touray found himself a lot of space on the left wing and his cross picked out an unmarked Neill Byrne who had sauntered up from centre-half, side-footing his shot into the corner with the aid of a deflection.
It was only the second goal conceded by Stevenage at home this season but they found a rhythm quickly and forced the Bantams defence into a couple of blocks.
Josh Neufville produced one on a Dan Kemp shot after 18 minutes but any happiness at that disappeared in an instant, Harvey White volleying perfectly into the corner.
Both sides had spells on top, Jordan Roberts heading over early in the second half while Bradford’s one chance of note fell to Neufville, but it was straight at the keeper as both had to settle for a point.
Alexander felt the Bantams allowed Stevenage to come back into the game after the good early start.
“They’ve got a superb defensive record and they’ve won all their games here, so to take the lead and play well for 10 minutes (was great),” said Alexander.
“Then I thought we stopped going for the throat and turned down opportunities to go forward and attack their back line.
“We allowed them a good spell of momentum in the first half to get the equaliser and we gave away some cheap set-pieces.
“Second half we were more aggressive and more purposeful, we put pressure on their back line and we’ve got behind them.
“We showed where our strength was.
“Before today, we were the highest scorers in England across the four divisions and I think they had the best defensive record in the EFL, so it was going to be a clash of good records, I suppose.
“They’ve probably come out on top because they’ve only conceded one goal and we haven’t scored as many as we usually do or created as many as we usually do.
“You have to credit Stevenage for how they defend but I thought we looked like we would win the game in the second half.
“We just need that second goal to really put teams under severe pressure.”
Stevenage: Marschall, Pattenden, Goode, Piergianni, Freestone (Butler 63), Houghton, White (Phillips 78), Roberts (Sweeney 90), Kemp, Lubala (Campbell 63), Reid (Ahadme 78). Unused substitutes: Ashby-Hammond, Patterson.
Bradford City: Walker, Byrne, J Wright, Kelly, Neufville, Power, Metcalfe, Touray, T Wright (Lapslie 56), Kavanagh (Cook 56), Swan. Unused substitutes: Hilton, Halliday, McIntyre, Richards, Leigh.
Referee: Sam Allison (Somerset).