Mark Hughes happy with progress being made at Bradford

Posted Sunday, March 27, 2022 by PA

Mark Hughes was pleased with Bradford’s performance as the Bantams gained their first home point since he took over as manager a month ago.

The 0-0 draw against promotion chasing Newport ended a dismal run of five consecutive home defeats, three of them under Hughes. His other two matches ended away wins at leaders Forest Green and Hartlepool.

Bradford’s home form is so poor they have won only once in 15 matches at Valley Parade and only four all season.

In a game of few chances, Bradford’s best opportunity of breaking the deadlock fell to Jamie Walker in the 57th minute when the midfield player was put through on goal but Joe Day held his fiercely struck shot.

At the other end Bradford keeper Alex Bass saved well from Cameron Norman just after half time and leading scorer Dom Telford almost connected with a low cross in stoppage time moments after Matt Foulds had made a timely clearance.

Hughes said: “I thought we played really well against a good Newport side, who have got ambitions of their own and we restricted them to few opportunities.

“I thought we were excellent in taking the game to them and asking questions of them, but we still need to work on our play at the top end of the pitch.

“We have a defensive platform and we have done more work in defence and on midfield than we have at the top end of the pitch, but it is good to see positive steps and the crowd were magnificent again

“I think the crowd can see the progress we are making and I like to think they will see us continue in the same vein and get better every time we play here.

“I thought we started brightly and played as a team from start to finish. I made a double substitution on the hour, bringing on Charles Vernam and Dion Pereira because we had gone a little flat and we needed a bit more craft at the top end and they made a great impact. Dion is a talented boy. He is unpredictable.”

Hughes acknowledged Bradford need to improve their goalscoring record.

He said: “Maybe it’s a confidence thing. Sometimes when you get half chances you try to be a bit too deliberate. We just need someone to have a shot that ricochets to one of our guys and he bundles it over the line so we take a win.”

Newport manager James Rowberry said: “I thought we were terrific. We had a stonewall penalty turned down. I don’t understand why it’s not been given. Why would Cameron Norman go down in that situation?

“I was hoping for more reward from that performance.”

The result lifted Newport to fifth with 63 points, three points behind the last automatic promotion place and Rowberry said: “It’s going to be tight. It’s going down to the last game of the season against Rochdale.”