Bury 0 Bradford City 0: Rory McArdle injury blow as Bantams get back to basics

Not only is it against leaders Burton Albion, but the Bantams look set to lose the mainstay of their defence to injury for tomorrow’s Valley Parade encounter.

Central defender Rory McArdle was sent sprawling after making a stoppage-time clearance and dislocated his left shoulder.

Unless the prognosis is better than expected, McArdle will be ruled out of an encounter that would see Bradford go level with sixth-placed Barnsley were they to win.

Captain Stephen Darby said of the injury and his defensive colleague, who was helped off with his arm in a makeshift sling: “He is not one that milks it. When you see him stay down and you know that he is such a hard lad then you know there is something wrong.

“Hopefully, he will be all right. He is massive to us. Since Rory signed three or four years ago, he has been absolutely brilliant and has been a virtual ever present.

“He always puts his body on the line, gives 100 per cent every week and you see his qualities week-in, week-out so he has been massive for us. But we have players to come in and there is good healthy competition.”

Manager Phil Parkinson reflected ruefully: “His shoulder popped out and with dislocations there can be levels of them so we don’t know how serious it is at this stage.

“It’s a shame because he did really well, he was right at his best. Obviously, it is a painful thing. I’ve done it myself with a complete dislocation and it is very painful, but he’s a tough lad and we just hope it’s not too bad.

“He will be a miss if he’s out, but we have other players to come in and fill that hole.”

Both captain and manager were happy with the way City recovered from their midweek home defeat to bottom-of-the- league Colchester even though this fourth encounter between the sides this season ended goalless for a third time.

“It was a good response,” said Darby after City were unable to complete a league double against the side that had knocked them out of the FA Cup on penalties at Valley Parade after a stalemate at Gigg Lane.

“We knew, as a group of players, that we needed to bounce back. It wasn’t good enough in midweek and you saw out there as we got a clean sheet away from home that we had a good spirit about us.

“We have played Bury enough to know what to expect. They are a good side with a good home record so it was important that we showed character. It would have been nice to get three points, but if you can’t, then keep a clean sheet and take the point.”

Parkinson looked to a club not far from Valley Parade, Championship leaders Burnley, as the example to follow.

“It’s about doing the basics well. I was looking at Burnley this afternoon (a 1-0 derby win against Blackburn) and the commentators were saying how Burnley are the team in the Championship who every week do the basic things right.

“They are solid, hard to break down and that’s what you have got to be first and foremost and we went away from that on Tuesday but probably got back to it (Saturday). I asked them to put in a display which gives us something to build on and I feel we have done that.”

With chances at a premium as the 4-4-2 line-ups effectively cancelled each other out, Parkinson was left to steam by two first-half penalty calls being rejected.

A fresh-air shot from Lee Evans saw the ball bounce up from James Hanson’s knock down and strike Danny Pugh on the hand – Parkinson admitting that was a ‘50-50’ call – but the more clear-cut appeal came five minutes before the break.

Hanson went for a header but got a shove in the back from Reece Brown only for play to be waved on despite furious appeals from City.

“I said to the ref that he has to be prepared to make big calls and any team would feel hard done to if they had not got one of those decisions in their favour,” said Parkinson.

“When games are tight with everybody scrapping, you need a bit of luck and I think we are due some in the box.”

Though his defence was water-tight despite James Meredith suffering from illness and Reece Burke coming straight back despite snow preventing him from training after recovery from an ankle problem, City’s big concern is a lack of goals.

Evans went close with a header from a free-kick after Ben Williams had kept out a drive from Pugh, but that was about it for the first half.

The save of the game came when Bury’s Ian Lawlor tipped over a back-header from Wes Thomas from Evans’s driven free-kick, but despite spells of pressure from both sides, neither goalkeeper was unduly troubled after that.

The result left Darby to concede: “I’m not too sure how many wins we will need from the last 12 games. It could be anything. You look at the table and everyone is beating each other. There will be plenty more twists and turns betweeen now and the end of the season. You can’t think too far ahead. We have to build on the positives.”

Bury: Lawlor, Jones, Brown, P Clarke, Hussey; O’Sullivan (Clare 73), Tutte, Pugh, Mayor; L Clarke, Lowe. Unused substitutes: Ruddy, Pope, Sedgwick, Burgess, Rose, Harker.

Bradford City: Williams, Darby, McArdle, Burke, Meredith; McMahon, Cullen, Evans, Reid (Marshall 82); Hanson (Proctor 89), Thomas (B Clarke 89). Unused substitutes: Cracknell, N Clarke, Knott, Leigh.

Referee: David Webb (Co Durham).