Bradford City v Torquay United - 8/12/12

[Dutchgull]

Just seen the FL highlights as I said before I hate Bradford and I fear for us when shitty City come to town ........as for the Cornish ....well...

[Dave]

There bloody is !! Why always sympathise with a feckin actor ???

I am fed up of us suffering at the cheating of other clubs players

Not sympathising with an actor he should face his own punishment..its simple as said on another thread if Saah keeps his hands to himself the ref has no decision to make Saah only has himself to blame, and I am not sure what cheating your on about to be honest.

[Dutchgull]

Incidents involving Raynor, Brabin , Platt , & Rowbotham spring to mind but in a sober state I could probably recall a few more !!

[Dave]

Ah yes indeed Dutch me old mate, however we have been guilty in the past ourselves after all how many of us thought Tim Sills was a hero one boxing day not so long ago, as said its football and shit happens..again as said Saah throw his arm out the Bradford player made sure he paid the full price.

[Dutchgull]

Oh come on Forever Sills was a hero against the trash & cheating of our east devon neighbours.He was fouled FIRST Talking of derby games we wuz robbed against the cornish in a league cup game and even Dick Woodacre had sympathy with us !!!!

[bengull]

Just seen the footage on the FLS and it looks awful, far worse than what I saw at the ground. Absolutely no complaints from me, I don't think the linesman had any option. Despite heavy provocation from Bradford, it looks like Saah has raised his arm to Meredith and landed a lusty blow, whether he did or not is irrelevant, it looks like there is real intent. A massive shame because Saah has been one of our most consistent performers this season and he has let himself down especially as he happened to be wearing the captain's armband at the time. I was angry and tired last night at the time of writing and I think my judgement may have been clouded by the annoyance of the circumstance, but I hold my hands up and admit you just can't do that on a football pitch, whether he meant to or not, whether he touched him or not. We do not know what bearing it had on the match because we were getting slaughtered when we had a full compliment of players, but in saying that we proved we could have nicked it at some point when Thompson hit the post on the counter attack. Of bigger concern is the delicate situation it leaves us with defensively over Christmas, fingers crossed Downes maintains his own discipline in the coming weeks.

[divingbboy]

Just watched the incident a few times on the FLS. While I don't think that Saah hit the guy in the face, or that he knocked him down (so, in that sense, it was a dive), Saah made it too easy for the guy by getting frustrated and getting physical with him. Don't think the ref had an other option, to be honest.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I won't do much of a report as Ben has summed it up perfectly. I will highlight the positives first.

1. Solid, committed and totally hardworking performance from everyone and they deserve nothing but praise from all of us for nearly grabbing an unlikely point. Pokey made some outstanding saves and we coped admirably with the loss of Bodin PLUS the loss of Saah too all in the first half hour or so. McDonald fitted in superbly in what was a truly difficult match. Obviously it could have been over much sooner than the 85th minute if Bradford had got any of their million efforts on target but we rode our luck right to the death and it took an error from Craig to let Connell in with a shooting opportunity which he took no mistake.

2. Credit to the 120 odd Gulls fans up there today. There were only a handful of us trying to make an atmosphere and surrounded by 9000 Bantams and the loudest PA system known to man, it was nigh on impossible. I can't really take much credit for making the effort to go as i only live about 80-90 miles away but i still had to arrange childcare and do some sorting out to make it possible.

3. Good to stand on the back step once more and to say hello to DonnyGull Tony and his lad and also say a brief 'hello' in passing Matt in the club shop.

Negatives now, and as it's me, there are ALWAYS negatives!

1. For the first half hour 11 v 11 we created zilch again and it's arguable that even had we not had Saah dismissed we would still have been defending for the entire game anyway with not an effort on goal in response. Our only shots of note coming from Jarvis who shot well, well wide and the best effort minutes after the red card from Niall who went alone and dug out a shot that hit the base of the post.

2. Although we defended admirably, we still left Rene AND Niall up top for most of the second half which i found puzzling as we were down to 10 men. Given Ling's preference for defending when we have 11 men on the pitch, when we had 10 he did the opposite to what i expected and left two up. I hadn't got a problem with that and it was the only way of somehow trying to nick something however, we needed them to take the pressure off, keep the ball, run into some channels and although Rene did well he just couldn't muster any foothold in the game and he got seriously frustrated. I thought we could use Nialls pace too but we just resorted to lumping the ball up to him which he had no hope of competing for. Yeoman maybe could have been brought on to add a goal threat and a more physical presence.

3. The ref was a total clit and gave them a free kick everytime they fell over. He also began the game wearing a shirt more or less identical to ours which we all spotted and it took some complaining by the Bradford bench for him to review his choice of attire and change into a green one. Maybe he should have realised this fashion faux pas before the game kicked off. Tosser.

4. Bradford is a total dump and amidst the greyness and in the shadows of the mosques i prayed for the game to be over as quickly as possible so i could escape that sh*thole and get home. I truly hate the place. I hope they go up as i never want to go again. I felt guilty after the game when i made a pretty much instant exit after the whistle and saw those who had travelled miles from Devon stay behind to clap the team off. I did clap them off but left quickly to get back to relieve my elderly mum of her duties of childcare. Maybe i could have stayed a minute or two more but i just didn't think at the time so apologies.

5. Leicester City drew with Barnsley and so totally buggered up my accumulator the w*nkers!

6. Not sure i agree with Ben totally for having a dig at us who claimed the signing of Angus at the expense of an attacker was a Ling masterstroke. After all nobody could have predicted the disciplinary issues we have suffered defensively this season and with hindsight it is easy to say it was a good move. It loks like a good move now obviously but i just hope that the loss of Saah and Bodin ( if he is to be out for any length of time ) doesn't activate his defensive default mindset once again for the upcoming games. Bradford was a blip hoefully and we should get at Northampton on saturday regardless.

7. Scott, i saw that snippet earlier on the thread where you blamed me for this defeat and refereeing atrocity! So unfair!!!

[AustrianAndyGull]

I'm blaming Andy.

The c*nt

:na:

[Neal]

I was not in favour of signing another central defender, I wanted an attacker like everyone else, but in the end it was a masterstroke, Lingy deserves credit for his decision as he WAS right.

Unfortunately though we now have Macklin, Morris, Bodin (probably), Manse and Sarah out for the next match. For a team like us that is a real big problem. And I hope the fans will take this into consideration if we struggle over Xmas which I think we will.

[Dave]

I was not in favour of signing another central defender, I wanted an attacker like everyone else, but in the end it was a masterstroke, Lingy deserves credit four his decision as he WAS right.

Unfortunately though we now have Macklin, Morris, Bodin (probably), Manse and Sarah out for the next match. For a team like us that is a real big problem. And I hope the fans will take this into consideration if we struggle over Xmas which I think we will.

Neal cant fully agree with you, yes Lingy was right to bring in a C/B but he did it for all the wrong reasons, so doesn't deserve credit.

Oh b,t,w with a bit of luck sarah will be back as Saah before the new year and back in mens cloths...

[Neal]

Hahaha that was funny, let's hope Sarah is fit

Bloody predictive text

[Gullscorer]

From what I saw on the FLS that was never going to be anything other than a red card. Whether or not the Bradford player made the most of the elbow contact or Saah was reacting to the other player stepping on his foot, he was being far too aggressive and reckless in waving his arms around, even before the incident. His sending off probably took away all hope of us getting anything out of the game. He should learn his lesson and watch his behaviour in future.

I hate cheating, but if he had fallen down clutching his foot in agony after being stepped on, instead of behaving in the way he did, he would not have been sent off...

[diamondgirl]

I was at the game and at the time I thought it was a harsh sending off. Having watched it on tv Saah only has himself to blame. Sure, the Bradford player stood on Brian's foot, but there was no need to react the way he did. Foolish thing to do. I can't see us appealing it.

[gullintwoplaces]

Having looked at the footage several times, it is clear that Saah did pull himself along pretty sharpish and he did have his elbow higher than it should be. Still huge doubt for me about intention, but no doubt that the Bradford player fell as if he had been hit by a train. Lesson for Brian, if you are fouled and the ref has clearly blown his whistle then lie on the ground in agony. Everybody else seems to do this. If he had done this on Saturday then the Bradford player would certainly have been booked and we would have kept 11 men.

The mystery for me is how the lino developed the eyesight of a kestrel to see all this and the visual processing powers of a tiger to reach a decision. Most linos that I see in League 2 are both blind and stupid, how come we get the one that "sees" everything? Or perhaps he didn't "see" it at all, and just fell for the Shakespearean writhing of the Bradford player, almost Raynoresque in its drama.