Chelmsford City 0, Bradford City 3
CHELMSFORD team boss Glenn Pennyfather says it is decision time for him and his staff as they begin to establish which players will remain for the upcoming campaign.
Reflecting on Saturday’s match with Bradford City’s full Football League-strength squad, the head coach said: “Competition for places is good.”
Three first-half goals from Gareth Evans, twice, and Tom Adeyemi decided the contest but for Pennyfather it was an opportunity to pick a more recognised line-up as he filters out the individuals he wants to keep.
He said: “I’m more specific on the players I’m looking for now as I’ve had a look at a number of triallists in different areas but I think it’s coming to that stage now where I want to settle things down, not only on matchdays but also training nights. We’ve had up to 25 or 26 training and it’s just too many.”
Plus, with skipper Dave Rainford likely to join the squad again next weekend, Pennyfather is looking forward to working closely on the specifics with more realistic squad numbers: “We need to start fine-tuning things and working on our patterns of play and set plays. I’ve got to make decisions on a number of people. Competition for places is good for the players we’ve already signed and I’m hoping to add one or two more.”
Aside from Alex Rhodes, a left-winger with experience of the League at Brentford, every other player in the starting line-up had featured before but they conceded an early 11th-minute goal from the spot. Young left-back Josh Brown was adjudged to have brought down Adeyemi on his way into the area and, from the resulting penalty, Evans rapped the ball with power into the bottom corner, leaving ‘keeper James Pullen with no chance.
Evans was clearly hungry for more and his appetite was appeased somewhat with another on 25 minutes. A deep ball was floated to the far post where he watched it carefully then executed a fantastic acrobatic, volleyed strike into the back of the net from close range. At the other end, Matthew Lock tried his luck from distance though when the Bantams added a third ten minutes before the break the scoreline began to look a little harsh.
This time Adeyemi raced down the right wing again as he shrugged aside the challenge of his marker and he fashioned himself a sight of goal before clipping wide of the advancing Pullen into the top corner. “The goals we conceded were all from mistakes and we’ve said that to the players – the best players make the most right decisions,” Pennyfather recalled. “It’s important that you’re in good habits and that you eradicate mistakes, which we didn’t do three times and it ended up in the back of our net three times.”
After the interval the Clarets contained Bradford much better and the only three efforts of note they forged themselves. Stephen Reed hit a volley wide early in the period, Simon Thomas whistled over from distance towards the end then striking prospect Tyrone Scarlett found his path blocked with his attempted shot towards goal at the death.
Seven replacements got varying spells on the pitch after half-time and Pennyfather added: “In the first 20 minutes I thought we started really well, passed the ball well and created a number of half-opportunities but didn’t get any end product from it. James Pullen hasn’t had to make a save today but, in fairness, we didn’t trouble their ‘keeper too much either. It was a lot of huff and puff and there was a lot of midfield play and passing.”