Bowyer lauds Bradford’s spirit, effort and determination after win at Stevenage - 7M sport

Bowyer lauds Bradford’s spirit, effort and determination after win at Stevenage



Posted Wednesday, August 21, 2019 by PA

Bowyer lauds Bradford’s spirit, effort and determination after win at Stevenage

Bradford boss Gary Bowyer takes no greater pleasure than grinding out a win and his side did exactly that after clinging on to a 1-0 victory at Stevenage.

The Bantams moved up to second in League Two with a gritty performance under pressure at Broadhall Way, with Luther Wildin wasting the best chance of the first half for the home side when he headed over.

James Vaughan was then denied by a smart fingertip save by Paul Farman before Wildin nodded the ball over the crossbar again.

And City had shouts for a penalty waved away when Kurtis Guthrie went down in the box but the breakthrough finally came when Tom Soares guided Connor Wood’s corner into his own net on the cusp of half-time.

“We showed old-fashioned values and those are the victories I enjoy the most,” said Bowyer.

“That was about absolutely unbelievable spirit, effort and determination.

“Did we play at our prettiest? No. But we dug in with real character.

“The players wanted it for the fans and the noise got us through it.

“It’s a physical, competitive league and balls get pumped into the box so you’ve got to stand up to it.

“I love watching people throwing their bodies on the line. Not the kind of games for the purist but a brilliant result for us.

“These are the important wins throughout the season.

“You can’t be at your best every single game so getting results when you haven’t played your best is what can make an average season a good one.

“As a manager you don’t care how the results come as long as they come.”

Meanwhile Stevenage manager Dino Maamria was left wondering how his side did not take a point from the game after Richard O’Donnell pulled off a brilliant save to keep out Danny Newton’s close-range header midway through the second half.

“We did everything possible to win a football match but we couldn’t score,” said Maamria. “Their goalkeeper made a fantastic save – I don’t know how he did it.

“We need to start sticking those chances away, we know that.

“But sometimes the keeper makes a good save when on another day it goes in and the game turns out differently.

“The lads performed really well. We didn’t do enough first half but there were no complaints second half.

“If we carry on producing performances like that then we’ll have nothing to worry about this season.

“I reckon overall it’s our best performance of the season, despite the result.

“We want to carry that on now. It won’t be long until the results come with performances like that.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys stepping up and they’re performing admirably well in a tough, physical league.”

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