It wasn’t all one way, and Bradford front man Eoin Doyle saw his deflected shot swoop over the crossbar
ACCRINGTON Stanley got back to winning ways on Saturday in a scintillating performance against early strugglers Bradford City.
Coming off the back of a 1:0 defeat at Shrewsbury last time out, Coleman’s men wasted no time blowing the cobwebs away and looked in command for most of the contest providing a fitting 50th birthday anniversary for the club.
Stanley looked dangerous from the off, especially down each flank. Callum Johnson darted down the right well in the opening minutes and his cross could only be flicked to an onrushing Sean McConville.
He struck across the ball well but his effort made its way narrowly wide of the mark.
Offrande Zanzala was causing problems for the away defence and was almost awarded a penalty after being brought down in front of the Stanley fans, only for the referee to wave the Clayton End appeals off in a flash.
It wasn’t all one way, and Bradford front man Eoin Doyle saw his deflected shot swoop over the crossbar.
With the large away following making themselves heard, Doyle once again missed with a free header from the resulting corner kick.
On 36 minutes, the turning point came in the game when Nick Anderton played a looping, hopeful punt over the top for Zanzala to chase.
Ryan McGowan was first to the ball but, his attempt to guide the ball into Richard O’Donnell’s patched the ball into the right-hand side of the goal to give Stanley the lead.
Kee should have had his second moments later, meeting a McConville cross unmarked he could only find the gloves of O’Donnell and the ball was ushered to safety by a frantic Bradford defence.
Stanley didn’t have long to wait for their second after the break when man of the moment, Zanzala hit his 4th of the season.
So often as it does, the assist came from McConville, and with Bradford playing a high defensive line, he popped a ball over the top to be greeted by an on rushing Zanzala who wasted no time to put past O’Donnell, much to the dismay of the Bradford fans behind the goal.