David Hopkin hails injury-hit Bradford despite home defeat to Charlton

Posted Sunday, September 16, 2018 by PA

Bradford head coach David Hopkin praised his injury-hit team despite seeing the Bantams slip to their fourth successive defeat in his first home match in charge.

Karlan Ahearne-Grant put Charlton in front in the third minute with an effort from 10 yards after the Bradford defence failed to clear Lewis Page’s long ball.

The visitors survived a sustained spell of Bradford pressure in the second half before they put the result beyond doubt with a second goal through Lyle Taylor’s superb angled drive into the top corner.

Hopkin, who was also booked along with one of his assistants, Greg Abbott, during a frantic second half, is enduring a miserable return to Bradford for whom he is still their record signing – £2.5million from Leeds in 2000 when the Bantams were in the Premier League.

Bradford held a 2-0 lead in his first match in charge at Blackpool with six minutes left, only to lose 3-2 and the Charlton defeat sees them slip into the relegation zone.

“We are down to the bone, but all the players gave me everything and we will be stronger when the injured players come back,” Hopkin said.

“We started very brightly and had one or two chances to score, but suddenly it is 1-0 and it is very difficult from there.

“I was disappointed we conceded a goal like the first one. It was a poor goal, but it gave Charlton something to hang on to.”

Hopkin, who claimed Bradford should have had two penalties, also bemoaned individual errors and lack of basic defending.

He said: “It is going to take time to bring people up to speed, but I have something to work on.

“This is a fantastic club. I wanted to stay longer as a player and I want to stay as long as I can as head coach.

“I am loving every minute of the job and I want to be given time to build something here.”

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer, a former team-mate of Hopkin at Leeds, said: “We are both winners. It is tough for him at the moment because of injuries, but he has some good players in his squad and when he gets his injured midfield players back I am sure he will be fine.

“I think we deserved to win. In the first half, we should have been two or three goals up and missed some good chances.

“In the second half, we went off the pace a bit and Bradford gained a bit of momentum without creating anything.

“Our back four were solid and the midfield players in front of them broke things up and the strikers scored two goals.”