Graham Alexander laments 'uncharacteristic' Bradford City display after 3-0 defeat to Mansfield Town
Graham Alexander was left to rue an “uncharacteristic” display from his Bradford City side following their 3-0 defeat to Mansfield Town.
The Bantams are flying high in League One but had their wings clipped by the Stags, who claimed all three points at the One Call Stadium.
Rhys Oates bagged a brace, with his goals coming either side of a Lucas Akins effort.
Post-match, Alexander lamented his side’s decline after a promising start to the New Year’s Day game.
Graham Alexander’s post-match reaction
He said: “It was an uncharacteristic display from us. First 15 minutes I thought we looked really dangerous and had opportunities to take the lead, but that then petered out.
“They scored a goal out of nothing really when we were under no pressure on our goal in the game.
“It gave them and their crowd a boost and knocked our confidence a little bit.
“I think we played into Mansfield’s hands at times. And when you give cheap goals away you give your opponents something to protect, and they protected it well.
“I thought our performance was flat. Second half we played like it was 0-0 when we needed a goal to get back in it.”
Penalty decision controversy
Alexander did feel his side should have had a penalty when the ball appeared to strike the arm of Mansfield’s Akins.
Bradford’s boss said: “We should have had a penalty, I heard the ball smack his arm. At that stage if we’d scored that it could have been 2-1, then you have an opportunity and momentum.
“But then we gave an horrendous goal away which took the game away from us, though we did have chances after that.”
Mansfield Town manager’s view
Stags boss Nigel Clough added: “You have to put this win in context with the other two and say it’s been quite remarkable with the standard of the opposition we have been playing – top-six teams – and we got three victories with clean sheets in the last two.
“I thought today was the pick of the bunch with the all-round performance. We scored two goals and looked after it. Then we had an iffy spell in the first 10 minutes of the second half, though they didn’t have any clear-cut chances.
“After that we got a third goal and could probably have had a fourth. Our all-round performance today to a man was fantastic.
“Bradford are a very good side and are where they are in the league for a reason, so it was about stopping them and then imposing ourselves.
“Today you saw the confidence we had on the back of the previous two results and put it all together.”