It's only a cup...What about the league?

It was with mixed thoughts that I sat and listened to the throngs of home fans chanting “Wembley….Wembley” in the 90th minute of the home game against Gillingham and felt strangely disappointed that our league form has just fizzled out as the bantams succumbed to the league leader.

Trust me I am so looking forward to a visit to the capital, when you walk into my house a giant city ‘giant killers’ flag greets you! But the crest of a wave of euphoria that had been riding round the club had all but disappeared for me as I watched us fail to snatch a deserved draw, in a match which on a whole I felt that we were the better side. The game was like the Port Vale home game in parts without the quantity of chances that were spurned that day but with the same costly individual errors. This time however it was not a suicidal back pass from the skipper but a nothing ball over the top which Naylor and Matt Duke both comprehensively failed to deal with allowing the Gills striker the chance to gleefully accept the gift and take it round Duke and dispatch the ball home.

How a team that had started to develop the winning habit Pre-Christmas so evidently in place with Saturday’s visitors is a mystery because without doubt, this group of players and management team have shown they can match it with the big boys in both the cup and in the league. If a neutral was watching on Saturday could they have told you who was top and who was twelfth? I don’t believe so, particularly after the first half in which Gillingham barely raised a canter and sat deep allowing City possession and to create the best of the chances which both Hanson and Wells spurned. That clinical streak seen at places like Oxford, at home to Barnet and Wimbledon is missing on leave.

Can the club be accused of not trying in the league and just concerning their priorities onto the league cup? Well, again the answer would have to be no. Phil Parkinson is far too professional to do that, he has already dangled the carrot and the stick approach to the players about earning their places for Wembley and on Saturday it was through no lack of effort that the Bantams lost but a lack of quality in the final third. After briefly scanning through reading the various tweets and sometimes listening to the shouts of the guy sat behind me at the match (Why isn’t he a manager at a football league club, he seems to know it all?) that filter through after a game it seemed that people are far too quick to pin the blame at the multi-coloured feet of Nahki Wells, saying he doesn’t work hard enough and is not interested. Again this is staggering to me and something I just don’t agree with, the last thing we need is to get on the backs of the players and destroy the brittle confidence that seems to affect so many lower league footballers. Onto the subject of Nahki was he poor on Saturday? Yes, there’s no denying that his touch was off and nothing he tried came off on that day. Does that mean he deserves to be criticised and condemned of having a bad attitude, no. Will Nahki be the first striker we’ve had to break the 20 goals a season barrier in the modern league 2 era. Undoubtedly.

The next two games have rightly being labelled as cup finals by PP and give us a great chance to stay in touch with the chasing and pack as they are winnable games. How great would it be to go to Wembley which on a side note was my first ever Bradford City game I attended (Jumping on the bandwagon aged 5!) With a rejuvenated sense of optimism and belief that we can compete with anyone in league 2 because we have shown we can.

 The trip to Wembley serves as a momentous joyful occasion for the fans and players to celebrate the unbelievable cup run we have had and we will compete with a great footballing side like Swansea in a one off game as major underdogs. But sometimes the underdogs bite back, just ask those leading lights Martinez, Wenger and Lambert. Ok maybe not Lambert as he seems like a very bitter man.