BRADFORD CITY 0 CITY 1
Friendly
29th July 2006
Attendance 3,172
Scorer Reyna(7)
ref A Taylor
City Hart, Richards, Thatcher, Distin, Dunne, Reyna, Sinclair, Hamann, Corradi, Dabo, Sibierski – subs Miller(66), Schmeichei(45), D. Mills(76), Jordan(80), Ireland(45), Samaras(72), Laird(76), Dickov(45), Barton(69),
Bradford Ricketts, Edghill, Parker, Schumacher, Wetherall, Bower, Johnson, Bridge-Wilkinson, Graham, Windass, Rogers – used subs Colbeck(74), Penford(61), Brown(81), Symes(81) – unused subs Howarth, Swift, Smith, McGuire, Ainge
The Blues gave a first outing to new signing Bernardo Corradi for the trip to Valley Parade to face Colin Todd’s Bradford City. Claudio Reyna also made his first appearance of pre-season while the Bantams had old boy Richard Edghill among their number.
The visitors were soon ahead when Reyna stroked home the ball from Sinclair’s cross to score what would be the only goal of the game.
Corradi appeared to be enjoying his debut and was proving a handful for the hosts’ defence with a en energetic physical display that should be well suited to English football,
Both Ousmane Dabo and Sinclair went close to increasing the lead, while Joe Hart looked solid whenever tested by Bradford. Corradi, Sinclair and Sibierski all came close before the break. Sinclair continued to cause problems after the re-start and subs Stephen Ireland and Dickov were also involved in goalmouth action. Barton’s introduction from the bench meant that the Blues had two No.8s on the pitch with Didi Hamann also wearing the same number.
That was about as exciting as it got after the break as both teams toiled in the muggy conditions without further reward.
THE CITY MAGAZINE AUGUST 2006
