Bradford City 3 Walsall 0 - Report
Walsall’s hopes of achieving ten consecutive wins in League Two were crushed in a 3-0 defeat to a ruthless Bradford City side.
Two goals from Alex Pattison either side of half time followed Antoni Sarcevic’s stunning opening goal for the hosts, while Walsall’s torrid afternoon was capped off by a penalty miss from Danny Johnson, and injury to captain Jamille Matt.
Mat Sadler made one change to the side that eased past MK Dons last weekend, with Charlie Lakin replacing Jamie Jellis – who dropped out of the 18-man squad amidst rumours of a potential January exit.
The visitors started the game in typically direct fashion and forced an early corner after good work from Ryan Stirk and Albert Adomah.
The latter looped the resulting kick towards Sam Walker’s front post, causing havoc on the goal line before being desperately cleared by a Bradford defender.
The Saddlers survived an early scare of their own after nine minutes when two Andy Halliday efforts were well kept out, firstly by a flying block from a Walsall defender before Tommy Simkin kept the rebound out acrobatically.
However, the warning was not heeded, and five minutes later a thunderous strike from Sarcevic, which left Simkin with no chance, opened the scoring for Bradford.
It went from bad to worse for Saddlers when captain and talisman Jamille Matt was forced off with an injury after just 33 minutes.
He was replaced by Johnson, who had a penalty shout turned down despite appearing to have been hauled over just inside the area.
And to conclude a first half that could not have gone much worse for Mat Sadler’s side Alex Pattison fired a low effort past Simkin after 43 minutes after more lacklustre Walsall defending.
The second half started as the first finished, with the hosts in the ascendency and creating chances.
Again Walsall were carved open down their left-hand side, and Pattison scored his second in almost identical fashion to his first with a low driven effort from the right corner of the penalty area.
Mat Sadler introduced Manchester United loanee Ethan Wheatley for his debut shortly after the hour mark as part of a triple change, with Brandon Comley and Evan Weir also entering the field.
Two minutes later Walsall had their best chance to forge a way back into the game, when McEntee was felled in the area by Jack Shepherd.
Johnson immediately grabbed hold of the ball and put it on the spot, only to see his low effort saved comfortably by Walker down to his right.
Saddlers struggled to create much against the resolute Bantams back five, and for the first time since the 0-0 draw against Accrington Stanley in October Walsall failed to get on the scoresheet.
It is Walsall’s first league defeat since October 1 when they lost 6-2 at home to Fleetwood Town – the side they will travel to on Tuesday night with multiple wrongs to right.
Bradford: Walker (GK), Halliday (OFF - 90'), Baldwin, Shepherd, Kelly, Richards, Smallwood, Pattison (Goals - 43', 53'), Sarcevic (Goal - 14') (OFF - 81'), Pointon (OFF - 73'), Kavanagh (OFF - 73')
Subs: Khela (ON - 81'), Wright (ON - 81'), Johnson (ON - 90'), Mellon, Lapslie (ON - 73'), Leigh (ON - 73')
Unused Subs: Doyle, Mellon
Walsall: Simkin (GK), Barrett (OFF - 74'), Okagbue, Williams, Allen, L.Gordon, Stirk (OFF - 63'), Lakin (OFF - 63'), McEntee, Matt (OFF - 33'), Adomah (OFF - 63')
Subs: Weir (ON - 63'), Comley (ON - 63'), Asiimwe (ON - 74'), Johnson (ON - 33'), Wheatley (ON - 63')
Unused Subs: Hornby, J.Gordon,
