Adams laments another draw as Bradford rescue point against Leyton Orient

Elliott Watt’s deflected strike from range rescued a 1-1 draw for Bradford City against out-of-form Leyton Orient, who had taken the lead through captain Darren Pratley. 

In a tight, scrappy affair where both sides failed to create clear cut chances, a draw appears to be a fair reflection given the fact that both goals came out of very little. A cutting edge was most certainly missing, despite City top scorer Andy Cook coming close with two second half headers. 

Bradford Manager Derek Adams offered his thoughts on a game where Bradford simply ‘weren’t clinical enough’ to get the victory:

On how the game panned out: “We’ve had shots blocked, and haven’t been able to hit the target as much as we wanted to. When the stats tell you that we’ve created twelve opportunities versus five, it tells you that we were the team in the ascendancy.”

On Leyton Orient’s goal: “It was [a scruffy goal], it came at a moment in the game where there wasn’t much in the match, but it was a terrific goal to put it into the top corner. I’m not sure if it got flicked on…but the team showed great character; they go 1-0 down, they try to get back into the match, and that’s what you ask of your team…good fighting spirit.”

On the returning Elliot Watt: “A lot of good play comes through Elliot. He’s one of the best players in this division at taking the ball and moving it, and I’m delighted that he got a goal tonight. He was running around that edge of the box; Andy Cook was probably unfortunate to not score tonight…in the end we just haven’t done enough to get that winner, but we’ve had enough opportunity to do it.”

On Bradford’s thirteenth draw of the season: “We’ve had too many draws. It’s not without trying, we just weren’t clinical enough to get there. I always say, it’s winning that gets you up this league. Draws can be good at times, but winning is the one that propels you really quickly into a better position.”

On City’s character: “They’ve responded well. There was a setback when we went 1-0 down, but they’ve shown really good character tonight. They fought hard to get the point, but in the end we probably had enough opportunities to win.”

On the departure of captain Niall Canavan: “He got the opportunity to go to Barrow, and I had to make a decision. He’s given an 18-month contract, which is great for him and his family, and I’m not in a position to do that. I had to make a decision whether to let him go or not.

On City’s deadline day signings: “We’ve had things moving along, and you have to move quickly. The two we took in, Luke Hendrie and Nathan Delfouneso, were in the pipeline – and it’s just fortunate that we got them in the end. 

They’ve given us experience, I think in this division you do need experience to get out of the division. They’ve added competition for places right away; we’ve got a few injuries at this moment in time and they’ll help us deal with that.”

Bradford City’s next outing sees them take on Harrogate in a Yorkshire derby, this Saturday 5th February.

Image Credit: Rishi Shah