This will be added to during the day as I can get more information. So far MoM for Bradford City - Stephen Martin 11 nominations, followed way back by Wells 3 Nominations. to Date MoM Nominations for Bristol City Flint 2 Wynter 1 JET 9 Wagstaff 4 this includes phone calls from friends. So overall Jay E Thomas gets the MoM award for Bristol City in the first game of the season. Match Report Bristol C 2 - 2 Bradford Sat 03 Aug - 15:00 Bristol C V Bradford Sky Bet League 1 Venue: Ashton Gate Attendance: 13,862 Referee: Stephen Martin MoM Jay Emmanuel-Thomas Match Stats Bristol C 2 - 2 Bradford Possession: 55% 45% Shots on target: 5 2 Shots off target: 7 8 Corners: ........2......6 Offsides: ........2......3 Fouls: ........8.....11 Yellow Card: 0......0 Red Card: ........0......0 Scorers Bristol C: Scott Wagstaff (13) Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (58) Bradford: Nahki Wells (33) Rory McArdle (79) Cards Posted Sat 03 Aug 13 at 16:45 PM Report: City 2-2 Bradford City Mark Perrow reports from Ashton Gate City had to settle for a point on their return to League One despite twice taking the lead against League Two play-off winners Bradford. Scott Wagstaff and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas struck either side of half-time to get their Ashton Gate careers off to the perfect start, but two soft equalisers from Nahki Wells and Rory McArdle – the latter 11 minutes from time – were enough to frustrate the hosts on the opening day. Sean O’Driscoll handed debuts to five summer signings, as Fielding, Wagstaff, Emmanuel-Thomas, Aden Flint and Jordan Wynter all started a competitive fixture for the first time in City red, while Sam Baldock captained the side. A promising start from the hosts, in which some slick passing was easy on the eye, was almost undone from a set-piece when Wells headed a Mark Yeates free kick against Fielding’s left-hand post, before firing the rebound down into the ground and up over the bar. It was a let off for the Robins, who had otherwise controlled the entirety of the opening exchanges, and were rewarded with the deadlock breaker inside 11 minutes. When Emmanuel-Thomas attempted to wriggle into space on the edge of the Bradford box, the ball broke kindly for Wagstaff to steer the ball into the net via the far post from ten yards. This time last year there were two divisions between the sides, and such a gulf was evident as City continued to dictate the tempo of the contest. Neil Kilkenny was at the heart of most midfield probing, and his pass set Brendan Moloney free down the right flank to pick out Emmanuel-Thomas, whose low drive was just skewed off target. Bradford, Capital One Cup finalists earlier this year, were looking uneasy defensively, as McArdle made a mess of a long ball forward and presented it to Baldock, whose curling shot only just eluded the far corner via a slight deflection. But as the first half progressed, the visitors gradually began to grow into the game, and stole an equaliser out of nothing 12 minutes before the interval. An innocuous long ball down the Bradford left invited Fielding to come a long way to the corner of his penalty area only to be beaten to it by the gangly frame of James Hanson, who had the presence of mind to find Wells unmarked to drill a shot past emergency keeper Liam Fontaine into the otherwise unguarded City net for an untidy leveller. As the second half began, City’s performance began to reflect the weather conditions – the sun that had greeted the opening exchanges in which O’Driscoll’s men were so in control had made way from driving rain, as the Robins struggled to prevent lengthy spells of Bradford pressure. But the extent of the Bantams’ creativity was limited, and City showed superior class in the final third to retake the lead completely against the run of play. As Emmanuel-Thomas coasted into the Bradford half almost at walking pace, he sprayed the ball wide for Baldock and waltzed into the area for the return pass. When it arrived, the former Ipswich Town striker took a touch and calmly stroked the ball into the bottom corner for his first City goal. Marlon Pack became the sixth debutant of the day in the home ranks, taking the place of Joe Bryan just after the hour and immediately getting to work displaying a fine array of passing from a deep-lying midfield position. But even the added height of Ryan Taylor from the bench was powerless to prevent a second Bradford equaliser, as McArdle glanced in Raffaele De Vita’s corner at the near post to send the 1,000 travelling away fans into ecstasy. A remarkably open finale saw chances fall by the wayside for Baldock, Wells, De Vita, Flint and Greg Cunningham, who headed against the legs of Bradford keeper Jon McLaughlin in the final minute, but an entertaining contest was destined to end all square. From the Beeb The hosts took the lead when Scott Wagstaff finished from Jay Emmanuel-Thomas's pass before Nahki Wells levelled after home keeper Frank Fielding was caught out of position. Emmanuel-Thomas put the Robins back in front with a powerful finish after the Bantams defence gave him too much room. McArdle drew the visitors level with a header from Raffaele De Vita's corner. It was a first League One match since 2006-07 for both teams, the Robins having spent the last six seasons in the Championship while Bradford spent the same period in League Two. Bristol City head coach Sean O'Driscoll told BBC Radio Bristol: "Credit to Bradford, they didn't panic when we started as well as we did and got the goal. "Their belief and trust in each other is something we are trying to agenda in to our squad. "There's five new players out there so it's going to take some time to embed. "There's enough there for us to work on and to make sure we work on certain aspects." Mondays Press reports Latest round-up of news from the media. Promoted Bradford City snatched a point as they kicked off life in League One against Bristol City. Rory McArdle’s header gave City a deserved point. Bristol took the lead when Scott Wagstaff finished from Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s pass before Nahki Wells levelled after home goalkeeper Frank Fielding was caught out of position. Yorkshire Post Bristol City head coach Sean O’Driscoll was full of praise for man-of-the-match Jay Emmanuel-Thomas following this afternoon’s 2-2 draw against Bradford at Ashton Gate. The new signing from Ipswich impressed on his League One debut for the Robins, making the first goal for Scott Wagstaff on 11 minutes and then scoring a second early in the second half. The Post Bristol City new-boy Scott Wagstaff has set himself a goals target for this season after opening his account in Saturday's 2-2 League One curtain-raiser against Bradford at Ashton Gate. Former Charlton midfielder Wagstaff marked his debut by chalking up his first goal for the Robins after just 11 minutes. The Post Bristol City goal hero Jay Emmanuel-Thomas hopes his debut performance against Bradford this weekend will help him win over the Ashton Gate faithful. No stranger to City supporters, the former Arsenal starlet made a name for himself when scoring twice and creating another two goals on his first visit to BS3 in March 2010. The Post Bristol City new-boy Scott Wagstaff admitted his home debut was a bitter-sweet affair. Signed from Charlton Athletic during the summer recess, the 23-year-old midfielder opened City's goal account on their return to League One, but was disappointed not to be on the winning side. The Post Head coach Sean O'Driscoll is calling upon Bristol City's board of directors to bring an end to the long-running Albert Adomah saga. City and Middlesbrough officials have been locked in negotiations since the Teesside club tabled a bid of close to £1 million for the 25-year-old Ghana international last Thursday. The Post Jay Emmanuel-Thomas no doubt found dining with his father a pleasant experience on Saturday evening after scoring one goal and making another on his Bristol City debut. But it has not always been that way for the 22-year-old attacking midfielder, who admits his dad is his harshest critic. The Post Bristol City coach Sean O’Driscoll is calling upon the club’s board of directors to bring an end to the long-running Albert Adomah saga. City and Middlesbrough officials have been locked in negotiations since the Teesside club tabled a bid of close to £1 million for the 25-year-old Ghana international last Thursday. Ghana Soccernet
One odd stat I just noticed we scored in the 13th minute of the first half and the 13th minute of the second half and Bradfords equalisers came approx 20 mins after we scored each goal.
I noticed the times they scored in each half with 11 minutes to go but not the times we scored. Got the feeling JET is going to be another Albert, people will remember the good stuff but sometimes his first touch was at best abysmal.
Thanks Hawk Certainly not the start we'd hoped for and the wait for an opening day win continues into next season. Silly and avoidable mistakes for both Bradford goals when we should have gone on and won the game comprehensively.
Well JET is apparently still quite a long way from full fitness so we can expect some improvement and he is still young enough to learn and improve. Sean O'Driscolls football thinking can be summed up with one letter I think, the Letter P Persistant Practice Passing Possession Prevents Piss Poor Performances. That is the way he wants his teams to play football Passing and Possession after all if you have the ball passing it about the opposition are not going to be able to score against you. A few more phone calls from people at the game yesterday slating the referee most common complaint he seemed to be bending over backwards not to be seen as a 'homer', wonder if he has been accused of that sometime recently, that he was an 'awayer' Several of the callers said the first goal Bradford scored should have been disallowed due to a handball before the ball was launched forward that caught the keeper in two minds. That is something I have to leave to people who saw it to decide there was something on the match commentary about it but I didn't catch it all as the connection kept dropping what I heard was Handball then about a minute later they were talking about the Bradford City equalizer my first thought was we had handled and they had scored from the free kick.
Good piece above,we will get better and better,the signs of the new look team are very encouraging indeed.
I don't think we have to worry about JET. Got a good feeling he is going to be quality all season. He'll have his games like every player where he is less effective but he is the attacking midfielder we've needed for god knows how long. He's very confident in his own ability which is clear to see when he plays. Got a right gem on our hands and we got him for free
The ref was abysmal-I didn't see anything wrong with their first goal, but the Atyeo, all saw a Bradford defender handle the ball quite clearly- Giving the ref the benefit of the doubt on that one as he was unsighted but he didn't give us much all afternoon, and when he did, it was greeted by the usual ironic jeers
Most important stats for me are the shots. We had 5 on target and 7 off and got 2 goals. As happened all too often last season the away team had only 2 shots on target but scored 2 goals plus 8 off target. We made it too easy for them to steal 2 points from us and until we learn how to shut up shop and win 1-0, we'll continue to fail to achieve any success. Yes, I know it's early days but this is a problem that has continued unabated for the last four years! And Wells hit the post with a near post header from an early corner before took the lead. Now remind me who of our back four was supposed to be marking dangerman Wells? Is there a common denominator somewhere that we can all see, yet sucessive City manager's have consistently selected?
SOD is no fool,he is giving Fontaine a chance,but i think it will backfire on him. I think he might get the next game play poor in that then he will be dropped i hope.
JET was my MOM - promising debuts by Wagstaff, Flint and Pack. I can see why Wells is being linked with many - he pulled our back 4 about all afternoon - speed and workrate were impressive
