TAKE A BOW, KING CHARLIE!
Bradford ace Wyke hits hat-trick to stun Gas
CHARLIE WYKE returned to form with a barnstorming hat-trick as Bristol Rovers’ four-game winning streak came to a shuddering halt.
Signed from Carlisle in January, Wyke scored seven goals in 16 games last season to establish himself as the spearhead of Bradford’s attack.
But since a torn calf muscle sabotaged his pre-season, the 24year-old had struggled to recapture his swashbuckling form in two off-colour appearances.
Rovers, though, provided the perfect antidote, turning in a shambolic defensive display that was exploited spectacularly by the big striker.
“I was giving him a bit of a ribbing on Friday,” joked Bantams boss Stuart McCall. “I said, ‘Any chance of you chipping in? An attempt will do, let alone a goal!’
“He’s stuck two fingers up to me with that! It’s brilliant for him to get off the mark, especially with a hat-trick.
“Charlie gives us something we haven’t got. We need a focal point, someone to stop the ball bouncing back. We’ve got other good strikers but that’s not their strength. He’s a big plus for us.
“But we won’t let him rest on that. He needs to get his fitness up. He’s been out for five weeks so he’ll do a lot of training this week and he’ll be a lot sharper.”
Despite that four-game winning streak, Rovers’ porous backline was still awaiting its first clean sheet. International call-ups for firstchoice central defensive pairing Tom Lockyer (Wales) and Ryan Sweeney (Ireland U-21s) hardly helped, and the visitors’ makeshift back four was swiftly exploited.
Set-pieces caused mayhem from the off and on 13 minutes, Romain Vincelot flicked Tony McMahon’s swirling corner to an unmarked Wyke at the back post. The big striker couldn’t miss. This was Bradford’s first game at Valley Parade since Blackburn ended their impressive 31-game unbeaten home run a fortnight ago. Seemingly freed from the shackles of protecting that record, the Bantams players looked liberated, attacking with vigour.
Nicky Law headed over from another McMahon delivery then sent a beauty of a ball across the six-yard box that somehow evaded a forest of flailing legs. Dominic Poleon drove at Sam Slocombe.
Would the Bantams pay for their profligacy? Not with Rovers continuing to treat every cross like a hand grenade. Time and again, their defenders froze and flapped.
Nobody in the ground was surprised when Wyke leapt to plant yet another McMahon corner beyond Slocombe, nor when the striker completed his hat-trick by nodding in unchallenged at the back post.
Billy Bodin – still at the Mem after a £500,000 bid from Cardiff was rejected on deadline day – did net a consolation after Tom Nichols’ long-range effort cannoned off a post, yet even Darrell Clarke admitted it simply papered over the cracks.
“If you don’t defend set-pieces, you won’t win at Bradford,” said the Rovers boss. “Everyone has a job to do at corners and we didn’t do them. Simple as that.
“We looked weak at the back, tepid. Every time a ball came into the box it looked like they were going to score.
“It’s always difficult when you lose players to internationals but it’s no excuse. Defending corners is a basic skill.
“What I say in the changing room stays in the changing room but the lads know I’m very unhappy. It’s an unforgiving game.”
McCall, by contrast, was delighted with his side’s first win in three. “We were a lot more like ourselves today,” he added.