CLOSE McCALL But Stuart’s men sock it to critics
BRADFORD manager Stuart McCall hit back at the club’s critics after they battled their way into the Carabao Cup second round.
Goals from Lee Novak and Harry Pritchard did the damage despite Antoni Sarcevic’s equaliser.
“That’s an important one for us, especially because we’ve come in for some criticism from outside for not bringing in so many players this summer,” said McCall.
“We’ve lost 15 to 16 players and we’ve only brought in six players this season, but they’re all the right types and they’re desperate to succeed.
“We’d like to go with a thinner squad this season but we’ll bring a couple more in.
“I can understand the frustration but we’re still looking. The finance isn’t a problem.”
Novak fired the
Bantams into a deserved lead in the 26th minute with his first goal since February only for midfielder Sarcevic to equalise for Ian Evatt’s Wanderers just 70 seconds after the break with a sweet strike.
But Pritchard won it for the visitors with a quarter of an hour remaining, heading in from Anthony O’Connor’s delightful delivery.
Trotters boss Evatt said: “I’m really frustrated, we’ve got more to give than that.
“We had too many people who were under par.
“I thought we conceded a really poor goal and we huffed and puffed without creating much.
“We had the majority of the possession but the difference was their front two – they were more difficult to handle than our front two.”
HEADS UP: Pritchard nods the Bradford winner