Eastwood powerless to thwart Bantams

AS RETURNS to former clubs go, ex-Bradford loanee Simon Eastwood must have feared the worst when the irrepressible Charlie Wyke thumped past him from close range after just 90 seconds.

From there, the redoubtable stopper provided a one-man masterclass but could not prevent his side slipping to defeat, much to the angst of manager Pep Clotet.

“There are some positives from the game but also some negatives and this time I will focus on the negative side. I want to be very critical in the fact that we need to step up a bit more,” said the Spaniard.

“In the first half, Bradford dominated all the second balls, they dominated the first touch and that showed with the first goal. I understand that they wanted to get on the front foot after two bad results recently but we allowed them to.”

Amid a first-half claret and amber onslaught, Eastwood produced a string of fine saves to deny Matt Kilgallon, Paul Taylor, Shay McCartan and Nicky Law.

Meanwhile Wyke found the crossbar and Timothee Dieng’s goal-bound effort was stabbed off the line by James Henry.

Save for flashes from visiting strikers Jon Obika and Wes Thomas, Oxford barely troubled the Bantams who, in the end, came close to squandering the three points.

When Canice Carroll levelled after darting in at the near post to glance Ricardinho’s in-swinging corner past a stranded Rouven Sattelmaier, a smashand-grab raid seemed plausible.

But Bradford’s riposte proved swift and conclusive as McCartan drifted in to space and found the bottom corner from 20 yards before Dieng nodded home prior to the hour mark. Bantams boss Stuart McCall said: “If you’ve not gone away entertained by that then you don’t enjoy football. The overriding feeling when the whistle went was relief. It was a really entertaining game of football and tops off a positive year.”

Alas, the visitors’ cavalier approach, which threatened to backfire in the first half, actually handed them a lifeline when Obika fired home 15 minutes from time for a grandstand finish.

They couldn’t fashion a clear-cut chance though despite Wyke souring the day with a red card for a two-footed lunge in added time, which McCall hinted won’t be appealed.

“It’s a centreforward’s challenge,” he said, “a committed challenge and I’ll look at it soon but I doubt it (warranted a red card).”