Andy Cook effort should have stood, claims Bradford boss Graham Alexander
Posted Sunday, August 18, 2024 by PA
Bradford boss Graham Alexander insisted Andy Cook was wrongly denied a goal in their goalless draw against Salford.
Cook thought he had broken the deadlock in the second half when his shot was cleared off the line by Stephan Negru, with the Bantams arguing the ball was already in.
Alexander said: “It is over the line.
“It’s a difficult job officiating games and the speed of it. But the attack wasn’t a breakaway, the officials were up there and certainly the linesman.
“It’s a bit of a distance and he hasn’t seen it, so what can we do?
“These things happen over the course of a season, but it would have been an important one because obviously it would have won us the game.
“I was really happy with the second-half performance because we showed our strength and quality and should have got our just rewards.
“I would say it’s reasonably easy to supply and fit the (goal-line) technology. It’s definite – it’s not like the circus you get around VAR sometimes.
“But we haven’t got it, so we have to suck it up.”
Salford have yet to score a goal this season in three games but were the sharper team in the first half.
Ben Woodburn fired two shots wide and Cole Stockton was denied by home goalkeeper Sam Walker.
Alexander added: “They have got good quality through their team with a lot of pace and power.
“They are one of the teams favoured to be at the top end by the end of the season.”
Salford keeper Jamie Jones saved well late on from Antoni Sarcevic, who also had a couple of other chances.
Ammies head coach Karl Robinson said: “I thought first half we were excellent and by far the better team. It was a more controlled performance in possession of the football and we were compact and landed on things.
“Second half we became a little bit more instinctive and relied on our defending and I thought some of our defending was sensational.
“In fairness to Bradford, their defending in the first half was equally good and a point was probably fair.
“The players feel we were sloppy second half and turned the ball over way too much.
“But the disappointing thing is we need to be more ruthless in the final third.”
Robinson was delighted with on-loan Derby midfielder Tyrese Fornah on his debut.
“We had certain targets for the window and ended up with a real talent there,” he said.
Salford announced the signing of former Huddersfield midfielder Josh Austerfield prior to the game.
Robinson added: “I like what he brought to the game when he was playing at Crewe last year.
“We’re building a very young team and they are only going to improve.”
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