Gary Bowyer praises Bradford’s character after earning point at leaders Swindon - 7M sport

Gary Bowyer praises Bradford’s character after earning point at leaders Swindon



Posted Sunday, January 05, 2020 by PA

Gary Bowyer praises Bradford’s character after earning point at leaders Swindon

Bradford manager Gary Bowyer saluted his side’s character after they came from behind to hold leaders Swindon to a 1-1 draw.

Shay McCartan rescued the Bantams with a last-gasp free-kick to cancel out Jerry Yates’ penalty opener.

The Robins ended the game with 10 men after Jordan Lyden was sent off in stoppage time to compound a frustrating finish to the afternoon for the hosts.

Bradford, who sit outside the automatic promotion places only on goal difference, are now eight matches unbeaten and Bowyer said: “I thought today was a real good game, without there being much goalmouth action.

“But we’ve come to the league leaders and had sixty per cent of the possession.

“The goal that they score, the penalty, the defender has gone to stop the cross and his arm has come out – it’s natural movement.

“We had a really good second half and took the game to Swindon; I think the point was the least we deserved, to be honest.

“We found ourselves 1-0 down but the reaction was good.

“Over the Christmas period we’ve had four games in 10 days or so and had sixty per cent possession in at least three of those.

“I think what today showed for the supporters is that how much these lads are fighting for the club.

“One of the biggest compliments I can pay to them is whatever formation we play, they get on with it and produce the fighting spirit, the character and the performances.”

Bowyer believes there is still more to come from his improving Bantams side.

“We’re trying to build and picked up another point, we’ve recovered from a busy period. I think the character we’ve shown over this Christmas period is brilliant, now we need to work on creating more.”

Swindon were without top-scorer Eoin Doyle, who was prohibited from playing against his parent club.

The Robins did not miss Doyle when Yates converted from the spot after only 11 minutes following a handball by Connor Wood.

Kaiyne Woolery had earlier fired wide from close range as the hosts started the game on the front foot.

Bradford struggled to break down the Swindon defence with Chris Taylor’s curling effort off target as close as they came to scoring in the first half.

Anthony O’Connor also flicked an effort off the post from a corner and Matt Palmer blazed over the bar 20 minutes from time.

Just as it looked like Swindon would extend their lead at the summit up stepped McCartan with an excellent bending free-kick to make it 1-1.

Lyden was dismissed in the 93rd minute for a late challenge on Adam Henley.

Swindon manager Richie Wellens admitted his injury-hit side did not do enough to win the game after tiring in the second half.

Wellens said: “We probably haven’t done enough to see it out.

“I thought in the first 20 minutes we were outstanding, the high energy got us the goal but we sat off them a little bit.

“In the last 20-25 minutes we haven’t got many options off the bench to change stuff and when you’ve got no real threat then we just run out of legs.

“I congratulated the players after the game because four games in nine days and we’ve got seven points.

“We want the players to work harder with the ball than without the ball. When we get the ball we need to switch on and work harder.

“Today was just about getting through it and ticking it off.

“The red card was very similar to one Diallang Jaiyesimi received in the first half. Sometimes referees can be influenced by the reaction of the opposition.

“I don’t think it’s a vicious and violent tackle, I think it’s a yellow card but if you appeal it, it’s hardly ever successful.

“We played against a good team, they had their full squad to pick from. Their subs made a good impact, one of them scored.

“We are missing Zeki Fryers, Mathieu Baudry, Ellis Iandolo, Michael Doughty and Eoin Doyle, we’ve had to move Anthony Grant from midfield to defence.

“We are missing 60% of our starting 11.”

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