Grayson targets late flurry of goals for frustrated Bantams
BRADFORD CITY manager Simon Grayson is hoping that topscorer Charlie Wyke’s midweek strike can prove the catalyst to a late-season goal rush.
On a rare positive evening for City in 2018, the sight of the centre-forward ending his fivematch barren streak with a late goal – his 15th of the season – in the 3-1 win over Portsmouth was among the major substantives.
It was also a noteworthy occasion for Matthew Lund too, with the loan midfielder netting his first goal since joining from Burton, scoring seven minutes after entering the fray in the second half to put City 2-1 ahead.
On a key contribution from the duo, who helped City move up to 10th in League One and secure just their second win in 16 games in all competitions, Grayson said: “Hopefully the goal will spark Charlie. Let us hope so. He is another player who had not trained since last Thursday. He had a fitness test on Tuesday morning. He had a bad hip.
“It was good for Matthew and great for Charlie to get a goal.
“Charlie led the line extremely well. Him and (Kai) Bruenker were a real handful in the 50-60 minutes they worked together.”
On Lund’s goal, he added: “He is probably like us as a football club and me as a manager. We are all frustrated because it has been a stop-start time.
“We have always mentioned if we can get a run of games and training sessions going, you can get some momentum and fluidity in what you try to do.
“We have not been able to do that with the games being called off and training sessions not being easy to do.
“I wanted to have an immediate impact, but that stop-start nature of the games being on and off probably worked against us.
“But we have said all along, regardless of if we are going to get in the play-offs or not, the players have to play for their futures and give the supporters something.” EIGHT POINTS and eight places separate Doncaster Rovers from League One’s relegation zone with only four games remaining for those in pursuit – yet manager Darren Ferguson is refusing to accept his side is safe.
Tuesday night’s point against Bury in a game they should have had won by half-time may have nudged Rovers up to 13th in the table, but even that does not offer Ferguson any sanctuary.
For Rovers have reached 54 points, a tally that has every right to haunt Ferguson.
Five years ago, he was manager of a Peterborough United side relegated from the Championship on that very number of points, a tally that would have seen his side safe in every other season in that division since its rebranding.
Little wonder then that when asked how high he was looking up the League One table in the remaining five games, his first thought was to look over his shoulder.
“There is still a lot of work to be done to make sure we stay in this division,” he said. “I can still see us having a strong finish to the season, but there’s no target other than to try and get as many points as we can.
“But we have progressed this season, I really do believe that.”
The overall picture may back that up. A point gained on Tuesday night made it six games unbeaten for Rovers, their longest positive sequence of the season.
They have also lost just three times in the last 19 games, but they really should have had another win in that number against already-relegated Bury, having raced into a 2-0 lead, only to then be thankful of rescuing a point after the Shakers turned the game on its head.
Ferguson added: “The boys got frustrated, the fans got frustrated. In the end we’re happy to get a point because we didn’t deserve to win the game.”