Bradford boss Hopkin blasts ‘testimonial’ attitude

David Hopkin accused his Bradford side of treating their match against Walsall “like a testimonial” after they lost 3-2 to the 10-man Saddlers.

Walsall had to play almost the entire game a man short after top scorer Andy Cook’s sixth-minute red card and Bradford soon went ahead through Eoin Doyle.

However, the 10 men went 2-1 up through Josh Gordon and Joe Edwards – and although Anthony O’Connor levelled for City, Gordon’s second won it for Walsall.

Lewis O’Brien hit the bar for Bradford – who stay second-bottom, three points off safety – at 2-2 and Walsall owed the points to two Jon Guthrie goal-line clearances and several saves by Liam Roberts.

Hopkin said: “I thought we started brightly – we went 1-0 up and had four or five good chances but then we just played it like a testimonial.

“I just think we thought the game was going to be too easy and we switched off a bit and before you know it, we’ve conceded three really poor goals.

“We got ourselves back in it at 2-2 and I’m thinking we can go on and win it but one delivery from a set-play and the smallest man on the pitch gets a free header from a yard which is incredible.

“We had enough chances but we’ve got to give Walsall credit – they put their bodies on the line. I think we’ve had 25 shots and they’ve blocked 11.

“Players need to take responsibility – we should have won this game comfortably. It makes my job harder but I’ll not stop trying to make sure we are a League One club next year.”

Victory snapped a five-game losing streak for Walsall, pulling them four points clear of danger.

Boss Dean Keates – who intends to appeal Cook’s red card, insisting his elbow did not strike Nat Knight-Percival – said: “We were outstanding.

“The lads showed great character, desire and endeavour. Hopefully this can galvanise our season and be a platform to build on over the games that are left.

“There’s a lot been said about everybody recently. We’ve had to have a siege mentality the last few weeks, the lads have had a lot of stick and they showed absolutely everything today.

“I’ve heard people saying ‘not fit to wear the shirt’ ‘they don’t care, it doesn’t mean anything to them’. They are a young group, they want to learn, they want to listen, they want to develop.

“We are only four points clear, it’s still going to be very difficult down there, it’s going to be tough and it could go right to the wire but we can only look after ourselves.

“It’s been questioned over the last few weeks whether the players cared – that was evident today, they do care.”