Bowyer purring even after equaliser
MANAGER Gary Bowyer rated Bradford City’s performance as “one of the best displays of the season” despite his side being held by Salford.
Bowyer was full of praise but said his players have to become more ruthless in front of goal.
Harry Pritchard’s goal was wiped out when Adam Rooney rescued a point for Salford in the 79th minute.
Bowyer said: “It was one of best displays of the season, especially in the first half. We had over 60 per cent possession and six attempts on goal.
“Our level of performance was terrific, apart from the last bit and we have got to build on that. In fact, we could be talking of a Kelvin Mellor hat-trick. They only had one shot on target – when they scored – and that was poor defending from us. We have got to be ruthless and not let teams come back into the game.”
The Bantams dominated the first half, creating a string of chances.
The nearest they came to scoring was in the 15th minute when Callum Cooke saw his left-foot shot from outside the box hit the far post and Anthony O’Connor’s rebound was blocked.
Alex Pritchard and Ben RichardsEverton also had efforts blocked, Aramide Oteh had a goalbound shot turned away for corner by keeper Chris Neal, who also kept out a fourth-minute shot from Jake Reeves, while Kelvin Mellor’s header hit the bar.
Bradford scored the goal their dominance deserved when Pritchard fired low in the corner of the net from Dylan Connolly’s right-wing cross following a quick breakaway.
Salford hit back when Brandon Asante pulled the ball back from the left for Rooney to score from close range.
Salford manager Graham Alexander said: ”I thought Bradford were the better team in the first half, but over the 90 minutes I was pleased with the performance. The spirit of the group and their commitment to the game is fantastic.
“We didn’t get the performance in the first half, but in the second half we did.
“We have got some good players and good quality and we reminded them of that at half-time and told them not to roll over and die. Even when we went 1-0 down the team responded and we were rewarded.”