Bradford City 2 Shrewsbury 1: Wells injury removes gloss from City’s win

MANAGER Phil Parkinson praised the contributions of Kyel Reid and substitute Mark Yeates as Bradford City overcame the loss through injury of leading scorer Nahki Wells to grab all three points with James Hanson’s dramatic stoppage-time winner – a result that takes them to fifth in the table.
Phil ParkinsonPhil Parkinson
Phil Parkinson

City were losing 1-0 when they lost Wells with an ankle injury 
after a heavy challenge from Dave Winfield left him limping and Parkinson sprang a surprise by sending on a midfield player, close-season signing from Watford Yeates, to fill the gap.

Parkinson said: “Mark Yeates has been outstanding in training and unlucky not to get back in the team because Kyel Reid has been playing very well.

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“I have played him up front before – he is a versatile player and he gave us a different dimension in the second half.”

Parkinson did not know the extent of Bermudan striker Wells’s injury, but said: “We proved we can score without Nahki Wells.

“He has been a big influence over a period of time. It is for other people to step up and take centre stage. This is a massive win for us.”

As well as Yeates played, Reid was City’s man of the match. The lively winger was their only attacking threat in the first half after they had gone behind in the second minute to a close-range header from Tom Bradshaw and it was fitting that he should put them back in the game with a 60th-minute equaliser.

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Hanson stepped over Yeates’s cross and Reid scored with a right-foot shot.

Despite City’s pressure, the match was heading for a draw until the dramatic finale.

Winfield was not booked for the foul on Wells, but was sent off three minutes from the end for a second bookable offence and, as they kept plugging away, Bradford gained their reward when Hanson scored with a left-foot shot following a goalmouth scramble in stoppage time.

Bradford City: McLaughlin, Darby, Oliver (Connell 90), Davies, Meredith, Thompson (De Vita 77), Jones, Doyle, Reid, Hanson, Wells (Yeates 23). Unused substitutes: Ripley, Ravenhill, Gray, McHugh.

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Shrewsbury Town: Weale, Goldson, Winfield, Jones, Jacobson, Woods, Summerfield, Wildig, Reach, Main (McAllister 78), Bradshaw (Mkandawire 89). Unused substitutes: Anyon, McQuade, Burke, Smith.

Referee: G Eltringham (Tyne and Wear).

Man of the match: Kyel Reid.