Simon Grayson appreciates committed Bradford performance

Posted Friday, April 13, 2018 by PA

Simon Grayson praised Bradford’s hard work and commitment as the Bantams earned a point from a goalless draw with 10-man Shrewsbury after a feisty Sky Bet League One match at Valley Parade.

The third-placed visitors lost Omar Beccles, who had been booked in the first half, to a red card for his reckless tackle on former Shrewsbury defender Nat Knight-Percival in the 60th minute.

The Bradford supporters booed the players off the field after the 5-0 defeat at Blackpool and Grayson said: “There has been a lot of criticism from Saturday and rightly so.

“But tonight the players have done what should be the basic requirement in any game – they have worked hard, chased, put their bodies on the line, won individual battles, showed attitude and desire.

“They have done what we asked them to and what they should do every game.

“All supporters want to see is players give a wholehearted performance. We have given a good account of ourselves against a strong team.

“You can’t complain when a team puts in a performance like we did tonight.

“Now we’ve got to maintain those standards in the last six games of the season.”

The result leaves Shrewsbury four points behind second-placed Blackburn with five games to play but manager Paul Hurst has not given up hope of winning automatic promotion.

He said: “We have got to try to win all our games and we will keep going to the end. It is not in our own hands, but as long as we have got the spirit in the team we have shown so far there is always a chance.

“The top two teams, Wigan and Blackburn, have done extremely well whereas we have been uninvited guests in the promotion race. It is nice to have four games at home for the fans, but our home and away records have been similar and we have won at some difficult places so we don’t mind where we play.

“Our keeper made two good saves early in the game, but I thought we had the better chances after that with the exception of Charlie Wyle’s header late on.

“Jon Nolan would have scored a goal on another day and the sending-off made it more difficult, but we put another striker on to try to win the game and we came close.

“I would have loved to have won the game, but to play just over half an hour with 10 men… I can’t be too critical.”