Damp

It was a damp evening at Valley Parade with a few hours of persistent rain before kick-off. A couple of weeks ago this would have led to a postponement as the pitch drains poorly and was saturated through the winter, indeed tonight's fixture was rearranged from one of those "waterlogged pitch" occasions. Tonight the game went ahead though, albeit with a slippy pitch,

City have left their end of season revival a little late but improved results have at least lifted the mood around the club and perhaps increased the chances of hangng on to manager Simon Grayson for next season. Tonight's opponents were Milton Keynes who needed some points to keep alive chances of staying in League One.

As last week, an early Bradford goal settled things down and the Bantams were fairly comfortable throughout the game, although Milton Keynes threatened on occasion. A second goal was secured near the end to send most people home happy.

Thankfully the wet pitch didn't seem to lead to any dangerous moments although there were a couple of comedy incidents. The first came when City goalkeeper Colin Doyle had to race out to gather a ball, which he succeed in collecting but his momentum carried him in a slide to the edge of the area, only narrowly avoiding a handball. The second came when MK had a free kick and their player used his boot to make the referee's marker foam vanish into the pitch and steal the ball forward a yard; the neighbouring crowd ensured he didn't get away with that though.

So three more games to go in the 17/18 season, which is only the fourth that I've been actively following the team of my current adopted city. City look likely to fall a few points short of a play-off spot following their mid-season collapse, a disappointment after last year's narrow play-off final defeat. Waiting for my bus home I was chatting to someone who first came to watch Bradford City in 1945, his 70+ years of experience helped put a season of minor disappointment like this one into some context.