Soccer
Graham Alexander impressed by Bradford’s battling qualities in Mansfield win
Graham Alexander felt Bradford showed both sides of their game in a 1-0 win over Mansfield as they bounced back from consecutive defeats.
Antoni Sarcevic scored the only goal at Valley Parade with a clever finish after 18 minutes, hooking the ball home when Jake Beesley nodded on Josh Neufville’s cross.
Ex-Bradford goalkeeper Harry Lewis kept his former club at bay with several good saves in the first half.
Mansfield, who had conceded five at Reading in midweek, offered more threat after the break but Michael Smith’s close-range header was chalked off for a foul on goalkeeper Jon McCracken.
Alexander said: “I showed Sarce some clips yesterday where he tended to be running into wide areas, but he’s not going to score from those areas.
“It’s about trying to be disciplined in his movements and trust the players in the wide areas to do what they need to because that’s where he’s proven for so long how good he is.
“We should have been two or three up at half-time, but the keeper’s made a couple of good saves. So, there was a little bit of frustration that we didn’t have another one at least.
“I thought we let too many crosses come in, so that’s something we have to improve on. But when it came into the box, there was a lot of good defending from everybody.
“I can’t remember too many opportunities for us to score in the second half, but you have to give Mansfield credit. They’ve got good players and obviously a good manager.”
Lewis had only been called into the Mansfield team just before kick-off when Liam Roberts felt discomfort after a foot injury.
Fourth official Conor Ledgeway took over refereeing duties at half-time with Zac Kennard-Kettle going off injured.
Mansfield manager Nigel Clough said: “We had a goal disallowed for, we think, absolutely no reason whatsoever. The referee actually gave the goal, the linesman started running up the touchline then changed his mind and gave a foul.
“The first-choice referee started limping after 10 minutes. He came over and had some treatment and then we continued.
“There were some changes at half-time and no notification to either team or manager that the refereeing was changing.
“It’s such a poor indictment on Mike Jones and his organisation that when the first-choice ref got injured, the lad came on and is next in line to referee.
“If that’s the best they can do then I don’t know what they are doing. He’s come on in such a big game and I’ve never seen him before in my life.
“I don’t know if he’s ever refereed a game at this level. I just felt very sorry for him to be put in that position.
“But the blame lies with Mike Jones and his organisation, nobody else.”
