“The most comfortable win of the season” Notes on Huddersfield Town’s 3-0 drubbing of Bradford City

Huddersfield Town pulled off a remarkable 3-0 victory against Bradford City at Valley Parade on Saturday lunchtime. The game started out as a typical blood and thunder derby game but finished with Town coasting to victory with the away end ole-ing every pass. The 3-0 goal cushion and Bradford being reduced to ten men provided Town with the most comfortable win of the season. 

After putting in a complete dud of a performance in this fixture last season, it was Bradford fans left bemoaning their team’s shortcomings in the aftermath of this game while Town fans could enjoy the feeling of topping the table and dominating their local rivals. 

A hard fought first half

Town won the first half 1-0 thanks to a spectacular overhead kick from Joe Low after a clever high ball from Humphreys bounced kindly for him in the box. I can’t remember an overhead kick landing so nicely in the top corner of the goal and of all players, it was a surprise to see Joe Low contorting his massive frame to connect so sweetly with the ball. 

Apart from that moment of quality, there wasn’t much to choose between the two sides in the first half. As has often happened this season, our opponent had more of the ball (around 66% possession in the first half) but Town managed to consistently put the ball in dangerous areas, even if Bradford mostly dealt with our persistent threat.

There were a few hairy moments in this half, where Bradford opened up us at the back but couldn’t get their finishing right. Matty Young did well to make a double save, firstly saving a well-struck free kick low to his left and recovering quickly to collect the rebound shot. The other big moment for Bradford came from some clever play by them to keep the ball alive at the byline and whip a ball in which was directed just past Young’s far post. 

Town were a threat themselves but most of our attacking play was quick balls forward for Taylor, Fletcher and Fernandes to chase down. Bradford coped with these for the most part but the persistence of our attacking players meant their defence looked harassed at times and I think that mental fatigue of constantly having the ball booted at them took its toll in the second half.

I really enjoyed the tempo and atmosphere of the game in the first half. The football wasn’t always beautiful but the commitment from both teams was excellent and every loose ball was fiercely contested. Town stood up well to this challenge and showed a bit of steel as well as trying to play their type of football. Over the course of the game we played some good stuff but we only gave ourselves the platform to play well because we put in the grunt work and didn’t allow Bradford to bully us. 

Town turn it on in the second half 

A neutral may have argued that Town were a bit fortunate to go in ahead at half-time but nobody could argue about Huddersfield Town’s complete dominance in the second half. A brilliant start to the start saw us 3-0 up within six minutes of the restart and the game was effectively put to bed.

Fernandes’ goal to make it 2-0 felt like a variation on the kind of goal we’ve scored over and over again this season. Braford lost possession in a dangerous area after being hounded by our attacking players and then we broke forward and beat the keeper one-on-one. At first glance, it looked like a Fernandes solo goal, after he picked the last Bradford defender’s pocket and rolled the ball past their keeper. The replays show that Joe Taylor contributed an awful lot to this goal, firstly by using his pace to win a loose ball from a Bradford set piece and then to make the run that created the uncertainty at the back that left Fernandes clear through on goal and Bradford’s last defender face down on the grass. Town did very well to take advantage of this situation but Korey O’Keeffe had an absolute stinker, which I’m putting down to how well we did at unsettling Bradford’s defence over the course of the game.

Taylor turned goal scorer a few minutes later when he leapt high at the back post to direct Roughan’s excellent cross past Bradford’s keeper and into the net. While Taylor, at five foot seven, isn’t known for his heading, he timed his leap perfectly to get the kind of hang time that reminded me of Andy Booth in his prime. The ball in from Roughan was excellent and picked out Taylor perfectly.

The third goal meant the game was beyond Bradford and Town became completely dominant. During this stage of the game there were multiple good opportunities for Town to extend their lead further and really rub Bradford’s nose in it but it’s hard to get too picky about this performance when we were 3-0 up, coasting against ten men and protecting a clean sheet effectively. 

I typically don’t like it when fans start ole-ing every pass, but it was enjoyable to see Bradford’s humiliation being compounded by Town passing the ball around them with ease for spells in the second half. A much better way to run the clock down than defending inside your own box for long periods. 

One red card not given and one given 

The game could have gone very differently if some decisions had gone against Town. The most notable being the incident where a shocking Bronkhorst backpass gave Matty Young no option but to come out of his box and challenge the onrushing Bradford player. Young made no contact with the ball and did take out the Bradford player, so the referee had a decision to make.

In realtime it looked like a red card challenge but the replays made it look less bad, with Young obviously making a legitimate attempt to get the ball rather than any malice being present. There were also a couple of Town players dropping back, so there was no obvious goal scoring opportunity being denied. So on balance, I think a yellow was probably right but it was a decision that you could file under “seen them given”. 

The red card the ref did actually brandish went to Sarcevic for two bookable offences. The first one was a cynical hack at Fernandes and fully deserved. The second was more debatable, as Bronkhorst ran across the Bradford man and seemingly had his ankle clipped as he broke forward. If there was any contact on Bronkhorst it was minimal and he certainly made the most of the opportunity to draw the foul. If the incident occurred but with the shirts reversed, I’d be critical of the player for getting into that position where the referee had a decision to make but I’m not convinced it deserved a second yellow card.  

In fairness, Sarcevic’s red card didn’t change the outcome of this match. His exit made Bradford’s fight completely deserted them but they were already struggling. Had it been a boxing match, Duff would have thrown the towel in to avoid further punishment in the 51st minute so there’s not much point dwelling on their red card. 

The decision to keep Matty Young on the pitch came with Town only 1-0 up and would have massively affected the way the rest of the match played out. We would have had to bring Jak Alnwick on, who I’m not completely confident in, and an outfield player, probably an attacker, would have to be taken off. In that scenario we’d have been forced to defend for the rest of the game and hope we could keep them out and protect our slender advantage. 

Every player played their part

I’ve given up on doing player ratings but in a game where every player was excellent, I thought I’d say something nice about each of the players that started the game.

Young – Saved a free kick well and made a few other more regulation saves. Had little choice to go for Bronkhorst’s loose backpass for the incident that led to his booking.

Bronkhorst – Some excellent gamesmanship when he held up his fingers to show the 3-0 scoreline to the Bradford player that was having a go at him. Really got stuck into the derby and showed a bit of mettle when needed.

Balker – Looked sharp despite missing games due to injury and added some ability on the ball to our back line.

Low – Scored an incredible overhead kick into the top corner and was very strong defensively.

Roughan – Put some great crosses in from the left, including the assist for Joe Taylor’s goal. Seems to be improving with each consecutive game he plays.

Fernandes – Anyone that’s ever played in a game where the opposition have brought in a “ringer” will know how other League One teams defenders feel after playing against DSF. Obviously a class above everyone else on the pitch and a complete handful. His workrate was excellent too, and that tenacity played a huge part in creating the opportunity for his goal, though it also involved a healthy amount of skill and composure too.

Collins – Had to be careful after picking up an early booking but still played a full part in the derby atmosphere with plenty of hustle and bustle.

Humphreys – Always looked to move the ball forward and tried to pick out a pass. Those passes often weren’t on but it’s admirable how he keeps plugging away.

Mumba – Made an incredible solo run in the second half which deserved a goal but was denied at the last moment. 

Fletcher – Played like a battering ram, using his body to tie up Bradford’s defence and competed for a lot in the air. 

AOB

RIP Sir Patrick Stewart – A passionate Town fan and a genuinely decent person, it’s a real shame that we’ve lost Sir Patrick Stewart in the last week. If he can pick up Town results wherever he is now, I’m sure this game will have made him do one of his famous quadruple takes.     

Duff’s excuses – There was something very familiar about Michael Duff’s accountability-free post match comments. Despite his team being comprehensively outplayed, he claimed that the game was only lost because of a set piece goal and a couple of individual errors. Which felt a bit like he was saying, “We’d have won if those pesky kids hadn’t scored three goals and stopped us from scoring too.” I thought the stick the Town fans gave him during the game was a bit harsh but seeing him try to dress up a poor showing as a simple case of bad luck made me remember the frustrations of the time he managed Town.

Joe Low’s knee slide – I’ve gushed praise on Joe Low for the athleticism of his overhead kick goal but the celebration was truly woeful. His attempted kneeslide completely failed and it looked like he may have incurred the most embarrassing injury since Jordan Henderson fell off the advertising hoardings at the world cup. 

Drury’s brave defensive selection paid off – Before the game I speculated about whether Balker or Low would start this game, not expecting that when given the choice of either/or, Drury went with both and dropped Bowat instead. When I saw the teams I felt like Bowat was being harshly treated but I can now see the logic in it, not least because Low scored the crucial opening goal. Balker is too good a player to leave on the bench, Joe Low’s form has been too good to justify dropping him, so Bowat coming out was the only remaining option. I’d noticed in our last game, against Wigan, Drury had been micro-managing Bowat at times, constantly telling him to either push the defence up or drop them back, so maybe he wanted a bit more experience in the middle of the defence.