Vale 2 Bradford 1 - Post Match Comments

[Hagrid]

Fine game and a just about deserved three points. Dickinson was brilliant at the back but man of the match was Hughes who gave a lesson of how to play centre forward at this level. The midfield was much more balanced as well with Loft dropping into his natural middle of the park role.

 

I thought Loft and Lines worked well. Lines preferred to sit deeper when Loft pushed on.

 

That's our centre mid partnership imo.

[Smugsy]

What happened over by the lorne street when it all licked off with the players..

 

Hughes was stamped on by a Bradford player and lost his rag. Rob Page and Phil Parkinson were forehead to forehead at one stage. My money's on Pagey!

[Jacko51]

What happened over by the lorne street when it all kicked off with the players..

 

McArdle kicked Hughes when he was on the deck. Should have got a red for that. Good performance, although we really must learn to keep possession a bit better when holding on to a lead. Dickinson was brilliant and my MOTM. Thoroughly deserved three points. Just a shame we had the Burslem branch of the EDL in the Paddock.

[billywhizz]

What happened over by the lorne street when it all kicked off with the players..

Bradfud player kicked hughes

[Paul6754]

Super win for Vale, got us on the right track and a huge boost in confidence.

 

Pope is a marked man and defenders are battering him but the refs give nothing, I lost count of the number of times he was fouled/clattered.

 

Poachers goal from Hughes, he and Pope should start up front IMO.

[Jinkin John Jeffers]

A fit Lee Hughes has to be the first players name on the team sheet. Sheer class with hunger and desire as if it was his first game as a pro. He rarely wastes a ball and the vision and space that he shows is second to none.

[mr burslem]

I missed the first home game, so this was my season opener. Coming back from 1-1 to win 2-1 showed spirit. People made mistakes, but no-one was half-hearted.

 

I was surprised by Lee Hughes' level of fitness, for a 36 year old, and was pretty proud all round. If we can reproduce this kind of energy and commitment regularly, we'll have a good season.

[CambridgeDon]

Couldn't make it today but it sounds as if Hughes carried on where he left off last week with another star performance. The game that changed my mind about him was the 7-1 win last season over Burton - not just because of the hat trick nor the fact that he had a hand in two of the other goals but his all round attacking contribution. One of the finest performances of forward play that I'd seen since the days of Foyley and Naylor. No wonder the County fans were livid when he left. Wait till we play them this season!

 

Smashing result - well done Micky and the lads.

[werstayinup]

Happy with the 3 points and the performance was decent.

 

In general I'd say we look decent at the back and at the sharp end we do cause problems although the balance of the midfield doesn't seem quite right to me yet. Lines has quality but sometimes drifts in and out of games which is a little worrying for a centre midfielder. It'll come with him though hopefully.

 

Hughes was exceptional and he makes a little more space for Pope which helps. A deserved man of the match although I thought Dickinson was exceptional at the back too.

 

Finally the Ref was terrible and missed a lot of shirt pulling and man handling (particularly on Pope).

 

Agree with that and would also add that I thought Robertson was a rock also,in the first half Hanson(who we all know is very good in the air) won nothing against him at all.

[onestepatatime]

Hope all the Loft-knockers can finally see what he's worth to our team.

I appreciate he is not the full article but for divisions 1 and 2 he is a mighty fine player to gel the whole lot together.

I've always insisted he would be seen by more fans as an asset when playing alongside decent colleagues and he's now proving a lot wrong.

He will score plenty for us this campaign and his goal today shows that when given the right ball near to the opponents box he will blast it goalwards. Good on yer Captain Marvel.:D

Yates was immense again and he is going to be seen as a very valuable player for us the longer he forges the relationship with his fellow defenders.

We do look strong at the back, at last, although we may have a few problems with nippy forwards, but then all clubs do!

goals will start to flow too at the other end as we get to see the best starting 11 learning to play off each other. Popey should have scored today but you cannot fault his commitment and Hughes made a tremendous difference up front. Opponents and their fans hate him. Great!

Finally mention has to be made of the perpetual diabolical referees and assistants we have to put up with. OK, as home fans we see what we want sometimes for our own side but no one can disagree that the 2 League home games so far and the majority of last season saw Vale Park getting the worst, biased, unprofessional idiots that call themselves officials!

[davo80]

Lee Hughes take a bow, the difference yet again

[Bluedevil]

All the hype about their new signing Yeates and he never had a sniff. The real Yates completely shut him down today.

 

Great performance.

[24 Nov 1969]

For those who weren't there, just put a short clip of second half Vale pressure onto Youtube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4rq_tnJou0

[werstayinup]

Neal - 7

Not much to do but very competent when called upon

 

Yates - 8

Very solid, some great tackles and looked sharp

Robertson - 7

Again solid, a good signing imo

Dickinson - 8

He's gonna be a legend for us. Committed performance.

Jones - 7

Got forward well, nice crosses. Out of position infrequently.

 

Myrie - 6

Double marked, rarely made many attacking runs. Got back well, worked hard.

Lines - 7

Fantastic distribution, great set pieces, exactly what we've been crying out for.

Loft - 8

Fantastic work rate, committed, good distribution. Proving me wrong.

Mohamed - 6

Quiet first half, more involved second. Quick, good headers, worked hard. Little end product however.

 

Pope - 6

Unlucky not to score today, should have buried the header from Jones' cross. Goals will come.

Hughes - 9

Star man. Worked his socks off, intelligent, great finish for first, great pass for second. LEGEND.

 

Bradford were poor imo. Wells did nothing apart from his goal, was very quiet. Gary Jones looked decent, that's about it.

 

To be fair I think we need more credit than saying they were poor,i think our two centre halves made Wells and Hanson look average which spread through out the side.

[vale in the blood]

Cracking game, thst both sides did well in.bradford very aggressive,holding,pulling,plus anyone see popey get elbowed in face first half,just before his first header,he should av scored?...couldnt av been anymore blatent!!

then robertson.dragged dwn by his shirt in.last 10mins??

Im a ref myself,and for the life of me,i cannot believe how bradford player didnt get sent off for stampin on hughes,n probably booked hughes for his reaction!

Anyway enough abt him.

great performance, while not best we can play,it was a hard working, total commitment performance.dicko n.hughes top notch today.

only dwn point today,Mohammed isnt aggressive enough,n for his size abit lightweight.