Mark Hughes urges Bradford to turn tide as pressure mounts on manager

Posted Wednesday, October 04, 2023 by PA

Bradford boss Mark Hughes remains determined to turn the tide as pressure mounted on him thanks to a late Tranmere goal in a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Prenton Park.

An 83rd-minute strike from substitute Kieron Morris was enough to secure the points for Rovers after Regan Hendry had seen his first-half effort cancelled out by Andy Cook after the break.

The result comes on the back of a 4-1 home defeat to Walsall which saw Hughes on the receiving end of boos from Bradford fans and once again the Bantams faithful vented their anger at the final whistle, chanting ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ as the teams left the field.

As for Rovers, the victory was just their third of the season as they look to move away from the League Two relegation places following a poor start to the campaign.

Hughes said: “We’re disappointed as I thought we should have been one or two goals to the good but we weren’t able to convert, especially in the first half.

“It was very evenly matched in the second half and it could have gone either way and they were helped by the performance of the referee who was absolutely hopeless.

“The penalty award was obviously a great clearance by Kevin McDonald and should never have been given and they fed off that.

“After getting back to 1-1 I thought we could go on and win the game. I’m disappointed in terms of the result but I thought the level and endeavour was good.

“We just need to clear our heads and come out the other side. Wins change everyone’s mentality so we’ve got to be strong and confident in what we are doing.

“We were the better team but didn’t get the result we wanted. We didn’t get the breaks but we’ve just got to move on.

“We’re all in this together and we all want to turn this around.”

Tranmere Interim Manager Nigel Adkins hailed the togetherness of his side.

“We did some really good things on Saturday but the scoreline speaks for itself,” Adkins said.

“As for today, you could see there was a togetherness and a determination and we played some good football at times.

“You could say we might be a bit fortuitous because on any other day the goalkeeper would probably have saved that.

“We were disappointed having conceded from a corner but we responded to that and that’s the most important thing, how you respond to disappointment.

“We scored a great goal through Kieron Morris who has been out of the team for a while, but as I always say to the players – be ready to take your chance when it comes and he’s done that.

“But for me tonight was about everyone doing everything they can for Tranmere Rovers and the club and the supporters and you could see that togetherness with the fans tonight, too.”