Goal hero Harry Pritchard earns manager praise as Bradford edge Cambridge

Posted Sunday, December 20, 2020 by PA

Temporary manager Mark Trueman praised match-winner Harry Pritchard as Bradford gained their first win in eight League Two matches with a narrow 1-0 home victory over Cambridge.

Trueman, who is the club’s academy manager, was placed in charge of the team along with his assistant Conor Sellars following the sacking of Stuart McCall last weekend.

He ended Bradford’s run of six-successive defeats in all competitions with a 1-1 draw at Crawley on Tuesday before guiding them to only their fourth league win of the season.

Trueman said: “Harry Pritchard’s goal was fantastic, but he also does a lot of work for the team and a lot of running off the ball. He has bought into everything we have done.

“It is a great feeling to get the three points and the players are happy. We have got great foundations to build on going into Tuesday’s match at Grimsby.

“We were the better team and we were happy to keep a clean sheet – only the second time we have done that in the League this season. That was massive for the back four and massive for the team.

“I think Cambridge had only one shot on target and the concentration that Richard O’Donnell showed to keep that out (from substitute Joe Ironside) near the end was fantastic.

“A second goal would have killed the game and Callum Cooke was unlucky when he hit the post.

“The club’s chief executive Ryan Sparks has put his belief in us, he has got faith in us and I hope we have repaid that faith with the work we have done and given the club some foundations to build on.”

The winning goal came in the 42nd minute when Pritchard controlled a pass from Paudie O’Connor on his chest and scored with a superb 25-yard volley into the far corner of the net.

Cambridge manager Mark Bonner said: “It was a disappointing afternoon for us.

“The reality was that Bradford worked their socks off to get the result from the game whereas we didn’t show enough intensity or desire on the ball.

“We made changes at half-time and we saw more of the ball in the second half when they defended deeper but we didn’t do enough with it or create enough chances.

“We had too many players who were not at it. We didn’t deserve anything from the game and that’s what we got.

“We looked leggy and we didn’t have a real tempo.”