Chaos, self-implosion, heart and heartbreak – Bradford City's promotion hopes take a dent after rollercoaster 90 minutes

12/04/2025 15:41

By Tim Penfold

It was never going to be easy, but Bradford City have always had a habit of making things far more difficult than they need to be. This afternoon, in a game that would be undersold by describing it as chaotic, they managed to show courage in adversity, attacking prowess and huge amounts of fight, but came away with nothing after repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot.

There were two changes to the side that started against Crewe, with Brandon Khela replacing George Lapslie on the right of the front three while Jack Shepherd came in for Aden Baldwin in the middle of the back three. Neither of the replaced players were in the matchday squad, which raises some concerns about Baldwin's availability going forwards, but there was the positive news that Antoni Sarcevic had returned to the substitutes' bench.

It wasn't quite as fast a start as last week, but it was still remarkable from City. Five minutes into the game, Brad Halliday launched a rarely-seen long throw into the box. It sailed over the targets at the near post, and Calum Kavanagh nipped ahead of his man to bury it from close range. Four minutes later, another long throw wasn't properly cleared, and eventually the ball was worked to Alex Pattison who crossed from deep. Swindon made a complete mess of it, and the ball ricocheted to Kavanagh who prodded the ball past the keeper. Two-nil, and City were in dreamland.

Of course, it's easy to get carried away with such a spectacular start. Swindon have been prolific lately and had shown some threat when breaking forward. Maybe it was time for one of City's experienced heads to calm everyone down and ensure that we took control of the game. Instead, we got a moment of madness from captain Richie Smallwood, who miscontrolled the ball, lunged in with some force chasing his error and clattered his opponent with the follow-through. A brainless red card, and the game was suddenly turned on its head.

The Bantams tried to adapt, switching to a 3-5-1 with Khela dropping into the holding role and being flanked by Pattison and Bobby Pointon, but Swindon had their tails up and started causing problems. And then City shot themselves in the foot for a second time. APattison played a poor pass in his own half, Swindon broke into the box and Neill Byrne deflected the ball past his own keeper. From 2-0 up and cruising to a man down and wobbling, and it was almost entirely self-inflicted.

Swindon continued to press, but City did have some threat on the break, with Pattison charging forward and almost slipping Kavanagh through. Swindon's defence did look wobbly when tested, and when the next goal came, it went to the visitors. It was a carbon-copy of the first, with Swindon not dealing with another Halliday long throw and Kavanagh nipping in to complete a poacher's hattrick – all three goals from a combined distance of about 15 yards.

At this point, City just needed to stay calm and see things out to half time. There was Swindon pressure, but nothing too major until Ollie Clarke scuffed a shot that turned into a perfect through ball for Kabongo Tshimanga to finish from close range. City's defenders did not cover themselves in glory here, with Byrne seemingly more interested in calling for a non-existent offside than either tracking his runner or cutting out the ball.

So, half time and 3-2. Time to reorganise following a breathless 45 minutes. Graham Alexander tried to do so, and this was where he made his major mistake of the afternoon. He removed Pattison and Pointon for Ciaran Kelly and Callum Johnson, making it seven defenders on the pitch. Halliday and Tayo Adaramola flanked Khela in a midfield three behind Kavanagh, while the rest of the defenders formed a back five.

This did not, however, make City any more secure at the back. What it did was almost completely neuter their counterattacking threat, allowing Swindon full control up to the edge of the City area. With host boss Ian Holloway gutting his midfield to throw on more strikers at the same time, there was a chance for City to hold their nerve, threaten on the counter and force Swindon back, but with only one attacker on they never had a chance to do so, and Swindon laid siege to the box.

Eventually, they forced their way through. Sam Walker had already made one fine save, and City had scrambled a key block to prevent another chance, but the attacks came in waves, and eventually Harry Smith turned home a cross for an equaliser that had been coming from the moment Alexander and City abandoned the attack.

Remarkably, City rallied at this point. Another long throw caused chaos, with the ball being flicked through for Kavanagh who was denied by a fine bit of goalkeeping from former City loanee Connor Ripley. Sarcevic was summoned from the bench to replace Khela, and gave City a bit more spark going forwards, and there was just a little bit of threat again. Then, incredibly, City managed a counter-attack, with Kavanagh breaking forward as the ref played advantage. His pass to Sarcevic was slightly overhit, and Sarcevic's resultant shot was from a tighter angle than would be ideal, so the keeper made a save – only for the ball to fall straight to Halliday who slotted it into an empty net. 4-3, and just 13 minutes to hang on.

Surely at this point you might expect some fresh legs – maybe Wright for Adaramola, whose impact had been limited, or Jamie Walker to provide extra energy up front. Instead, we got nothing, and City dropped deeper and deeper again, the threat that they had briefly shown before scoring now completely gone. Swindon pushed, and pushed, and finally as the clock ticked over into stoppage time they got the equaliser. A cross swung over, a Harry Smith header despite the huge amount of City defenders on the pitch and it was 4-4.

Even then, a point would've been OK considering the circumstances, but City had one more bullet for their own feet. Another cross, a lunging, miscued clearance by Shepherd and it was 5-4. Gutting, for all of the heart and fight that they had shown, but also in many ways their own fault.

Alexander has done well with the team this season, but the half time substitutes were a mistake that surrendered all of the initiative to Swindon. In the first half, Swindon managed nine shots – in the second, this was eighteen as they camped outside our box and bombarded it with crosses.

But the real problem today was Richie Smallwood. It is the time of the season for our senior players and leaders to step up and use their experience for the good of the team, but instead of calmness and composure we got recklessness and stupidity, and this turned what should've been a comfortable victory into a chaotic, madcap defeat. It's not the first time either – two years ago, in a key promotion game, it was a reckless Smallwood lunge that gave away a stoppage time penalty at Crewe. Again, Smallwood lost his head, and City lost the match.

Other results, with the exception of Port Vale, have gone the way of the Bantams, and they remain second in the league, albeit vulnerable to Doncaster's game in hand on Tuesday. Thursday's game against Notts County is now absolutely vital, and there's a big hole in the middle of the pitch to fill. How we cope with this, and how we keep our heads going forwards, will be the key if this season is not to end in another heartbreak.