Wembley on the radar!
Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date published: 07 December 2011
Athletic 2, Bradford City 0
Latics 180 minutes from a day in the sun
TWO moments of higher-division class and precision pushed Athletic to within 180 minutes of a Wembley appearance.
Bradford, spurred on by an impressive travelling army of 2,560 raucous supporters, were spirited in giving as good as they got in many of the individual duels on the field before Tom Adeyemi – who trod the turf last season at Valley Parade – put the home side in front.
Taking a pass from Luca Scapuzzi on the run, the on-loan Norwich midfielder surged past one defender before shifting the ball neatly on to his left foot to stroke home the opening goal of this Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Northern semi-final just after the hour mark.
It was a touch – not to discount the role played by Scapuzzi in front of his watching Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini – of quality, and a goal Athletic deserved for their superior threat going forward.
Once Shefki Kuqi had raced in front of his marker to powerfully nod home a Robbie Simpson free-kick with 10 minutes remaining, Athletic were all but home and hosed.
Bradford, who had previously knocked out both Sheffield clubs and Huddersfield on their run to this stage of the competition, only forged two real scoring chances all game.
The second of those came from a last-minute penalty which was horribly blasted into orbit by substitute Craig Fagan. This simply wasn’t the npower League Two club’s night.
The tie started in bright fashion before descending into a midfield-dominated morass.
Backed by the large visiting following – the smaller section of the Rochdale Road Stand had to be opened by stewards to cope with the numbers – Phil Parkinson’s Bantams began well but almost fell behind twice in the opening few minutes.
Both opportunities came from bursts down the right flank. First, returning winger Josh Parker surged past visiting captain Marcel Seip and crossed low with Adeyemi unable to get enough on the ball to stop it being swept up by Jon McLaughlin.
Seconds later, Kuqi hammered narrowly over the top after a loose ball fell at his feet, this time after a burst past Seip by Adeyemi.
Then came Bradford’s best effort of the half – still inside the opening 10 minutes.
A pinpoint cross was floated in by Chris Mitchell and target man James Hanson, standing on the penalty spot, got accuracy but not sufficient power on his header back across the goal to prevent Alex Cisak clawing it away for a corner.
The physical visitors continued to give every bit as good as they got in the 50-50 challenges.
After Paul Black had cut in to fire a right-footed attempt high and wide, Adeyemi’s burst on to a bouncing ball was arguably stopped illegally by a combination of Liam Moore and Luke Oliver.
As it dropped, Scapuzzi had a golden chance to strike home but, under pressure, directed his left-footed shot from eight yards over the crossbar.
Scapuzzi was in the wars soon after. Ritchie Jones, on his return to Boundary Park after a summer move to Bradford, nearly smashed the Italian over the Broadway hoardings and into the car park with a challenge almost comical in its rashness.
A yellow card was produced by referee Colin Webster – as it was when Nathan Clarke apparently won the ball cleanly from under Nahki Wells. The on-loan defender now misses a game, due to it being his fifth caution of the campaign.
Jones ran the risk of being sent off when clipping Robbie Simpson while in full flow, before Scapuzzi hit a snap-shot into the arms of McLaughlin as the half ended.
James Wesolowski joined Clarke on five bookings for the campaign when bringing down Jack Copton as the second period got under way.
Suspended Dean Furman will replace Wesolowski for the visit of Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. There was the sense that Athletic missed their captain last night, failing to get the ball down quite enough on a cold and rainy evening.
The opening goal came as Athletic broke forward at pace. Scapuzzi, in an acre of space wide on the left, dribbled inside looking for room to shoot and the chance appeared to have disappeared given that Bradford had arrived back in numbers.
But Adeyemi manufactured his own space to bring joy to the home supporters.
Parkinson made a triple substitution to try to give his side an attacking boost.
One of the replacements, Ross Hannah, threatened to embarrass Jean-Yves Mvoto by robbing him of the ball before shooting low from 18 yards and forcing Cisak to push the ball behind.
The traffic, though, was still mainly heading the other way.
Only a superb last-ditch block by Oliver prevented Kuqi adding a
second and after substitute Fagan had hit a 25-yarder three yards wide, the potent Finnn netted for a 13th time this season when latching on to Simpson’s well-delivered right-wing set-piece.
Mvoto was punished for a clear handball as the game entered its final throes. Fagan’s spot-kick, though, had far too much of the Chris Waddles about it.
And Athletic were left to stroll through to a two-legged final against Chesterfield – penalty shoot-out winners against Preston – for the right to play the Southern area winners at the home of English football in late March.
ATHLETIC are the 6-4 favourites with Paddy Power to win the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
But if punters shop around, there is 2-1 available with some other bookmakers.
Swindon Town are a best-priced 15-8, with Chesterfield 7-2 and Barnet 7-1.
