Another 1-0 away win, more rain and a City with 'issues'

I first went to Bradford in 2001 to watch them play Arsenal in the Premier League. For the record Ashley Cole scored his first goal for The Gunners in a 1-1 draw. But it seems the subsequent 10 years have not been kind to the football club or the City.

Although it now one of my local League Two grounds, this weekend saw me return to Bradford for the first time since that match against Arsenal all those years ago. Although the Daggers have played there three times in the intervening period it has always been on a day something else was going on in my life. For our first visit in March 2008 I was playing in cup final and couldn't make it, in December 2009 I was unwell, and then our last visit, in March 2010, was the day of my missus' 40th Birthday party and I had preparations to complete! So I was quiet looking forward to this one...

We set off from Darlington, late as usual thanks to Rees' failure to get out of bed, and although the ground is only 70 odd miles away it took the best part of an hour and half to get there. We finally arrived in Bradford at 2.30pm and my immediate thought was that we must have landed in another country. I always knew Bradford had a high Asian population but this was unreal. After parking in some small retail park about 10 minutes walk from the ground we soon discovered that, apart from a few other fans going to the ground, we were the only white people there! Now whatever your thoughts on race issues or your political persuasions you cannot tell me this is a good thing for our country? Yes, lets be tolerant of other races and cultures but please, please, please do not let us lose our own. The weird thing was considering the high percentage of Asians living in Bradford almost all their fans were white...

With Emerson and myself in the press box as usual we left Rees and Ryan to go in the away end. Of course being a former Premier League venue the facilities were top class. We collected our pass from a lady in reception and asked where we had to go. She said something in the broadest Yorkshire accent I have ever heard, and I have lived up here for ten years, but I did not understand a word of it. I asked her again, and again I failed to comprehend any of it! In the end I gave up and asked Emerson if he knew where we had to go. 'No!' he replied.

We eventually found a red door which said 'Press' so we assumed we had found the right place and were met by another nice lady who asked us to sign in. We were given a complimentary match day programme and a team sheet and were shown to our seats, halfway up the Main Stand just to the right of the half way line. The view was amazing and with a desk and power point it had everything you could possibly want from a press box...

The view from the press box...impressive!

By now the teams were just coming out and Emerson was getting excited. He always loves the bit just before kick off when the players line up in front of the Main Stand and he was manically waving to all the Daggers lads in the hope one would wave back! Unfortunately none did...

The game started, and after Gav Tomlin almost scored inside 30 seconds, we were under some early pressure. Chris Lewington looked a bundle of nerves as he dropped an early cross which saw them hit the bar. With his kicking also going haywire we were getting a little concerned but Mark Arber did the captains role by having a word with the young keeper and it seemed to do the trick.

We soon begun to get on top and after Tomlin had somehow missed an open goal from 3 yards we eventually took the lead through our Barbadian international Jonny Nurse. A bit of a scrappy goal yes, but a goal none-the-less and it was the least we deserved.

Half time saw us go down to the press room where we given complimentary tea and biscuits plus a choice of sandwiches. Emerson did the right thing and grabbed a handful of chocolate digestives while I went for the ham sandwich. Yes I know I have sold out. After years of saying how football should never lose sight of its working class roots I have now become part of the 'ham sandwich' brigade! What can I say??

The second half saw Bradford huff and puff but they never really looked like blowing down our solid defence, with Scott Doe and Arber again outstanding. We should have sealed the points several times on the break but the old problem of not putting the ball in the net was again evident. Then, with about fifteen minutes to go, it started raining and I realised the one flaw with the lovely stand we were in.

Although it had a roof it had no side protectors and was open to the elements so we were getting wet, very, very wet. We realised that the further back you went the drier it was so we moved to the back row just in front of the Bradford fans in the upper tier and next to the local press guys.

Some action from the second half.

We had only just settled in when the scuffle broke out in our penalty area. Damian Scannell, who had only just come on, seemed very upset and I thought he was rather fortunate to only get a yellow card for his part in the incident. With the crowd getting quiet excited Emerson got a little scared as he does not like all that macho stuff and was now just wanting the match to end.

But the fun was not quiet over just yet. From the Bradford free kick the ball went out on the far side and the referee awarded us a goal kick. The home fans around us were screaming at him, saying it should have been a corner, but from where we were sitting it was impossible to tell who the ball had come off last. The official was only 5 yards away so I was sure he had a better view, which I said to the Bradford press guy sitting next to me. Almost immediately we had a break and Medy Elito burst into their penalty area before slipping on the wet surface just as he was about to be tackled. The idiots behind me were screaming at him for diving and telling the referee to book 'the cheating little c**t...' so I casually turned round and told one of the morons he had clearly just slipped over and had not even tried to claim a penalty. The Bradford press guy then turned to me and said 'Oh so you can't tell if it was a corner or a goal kick from here but you can see that he just fell over can you??' Er yes actually...And I thought it was just the average fan that was stupid...

The atmosphere got a little heated in the press box after that and I was rather disappointed we didn't score a second at this point, although Emerson just wanted to move back to our original seats.

'No.' I said. 'We will get wet.'

Plus it would not have been quiet as much fun!

The final whistle brought both joy and relief to me and Emerson, although for very different reasons I suspect, and I set about preparing for the interviews to follow. We were going to be spoilt as both Damien McCrory and Sam Williams were coming up, along with John Still, and were told to wait in the press room. Eventually John came up and conducted his interview with Radio Stu in the stand while we were chatting to Sam and Damien, who both agreed to have their picture taken with a now very excited Emerson.

Emerson with Damien McCrory.

The interviews were good although nothing out of the ordinary was said. The players were both pleased with the performance, happy with the clean sheet and three points, although Sam seemed a little disappointed he had not scored. John was full of praise for everyone and although he didn't say it you could tell how pleased he was with the start we have made to the season. I asked him if the lack of goals was a worry and he said it was, but not as much as it would be if we were not creating any chances! He seems to have a lot of faith in young Brian Woodall, who looked excellent when he came on, and Jake Reed and is sure the goals will come. But after three wins from four games you cannot really complain!

Sam Williams with his new best buddy!

With that we went to meet Rees and Ryan before heading for our usual post-match McDonalds. Back in the retail park, which again resembled a different country, we discussed the match and the social problems of the City. There were riots here a few years ago and it is easy to see why. How this situation has been allowed to happen might go some way to explaining the recent riots in other areas of the country, but that is for another day and another blog. For now we were just happy with another good away win and a place in the top five, just one point off the top!

My next away assignment will be at Rotherham in September, or should that be Sheffield, where I hope to meet up with some of the lovely Millers fans we met at Wembley last year. I always thought we would be play them again soon but I was rather hoping it would be in League One. Perhaps next season it will be...