Bowyer eager to see a ruthless side to Bradford

Posted Sunday, December 22, 2019 by PA

Manager Gary Bowyer rated Bradford’s performance as one of their best of the season, despite the fact that the promotion-seeking Bantams were held to a 1-1 draw at Valley Parade by Salford.

But, despite that praise, he wants his players to be more ruthless.

After fifth-placed Bradford dominated the first half without being able to turn their superiority into goals, Harry Pritchard put them ahead in the 53rd minute with shot from 10 yards from Dylan Connolly’s right-wing cross.

However, substitute Adam Rooney rescued a point for Salford in the 79th minute with a close-range shot after Brandon Asante pulled the ball back into his path.

The result extended Bradford’s unbeaten run to four matches, but three of them have been draws.

Although Bowyer was frustrated at seeing his side drop two points, he said: “I thought it was one of best displays of the season especially in the first half. We had over 60 per cent possession and six attempts on goal.

“We have come out of a very difficult week. We lost our captain James Vaughan and Adam Henley through illness, Danny Devine is also ill and Ben Richards-Everton had a fitness test this morning.

“Our level of performance was terrific apart from the last bit and we have got to build on that. In fact, we could be talking of a Kelvin Mellor hat-trick. They only had one shot on target – when they scored – and that was poor defending from us in the bottom corner.

“We have got to be ruthless and not let teams come back into the game. The players are an honest bunch and there is an air of frustration in the dressing room, but they will get over it.”

Salford manager Graham Alexander was delighted with the way his team fought back to earn a point.

He said: “I thought Bradford were the better team in the first half, but over the 90 minutes I was pleased with the performance. The spirit of the group and their commitment to the game is fantastic.

“We didn’t get the performance in the first half, but in the second half we did .

“We have got some good players and good quality and we reminded them of that at half-time and told them not to roll over and die. Even when we went 1-0 down the team responded and we were rewarded with a deserved equaliser. In fact, we were a bit frustrated we didn’t take all our opportunities in the second half.”

Salford were promoted from the National League last season and Alexander said: “We don’t just want to survive in this division – we want to compete with the best.”