Cruel for Jewell

Anyone who doubts that football can be cruellest game of all should have seen the faces of the Bradford City players as they trooped dejectedly off St Andrews after the final whistle.

Paul Jewell's men had just given everything to produce the type of hard-working display which has characterised their meteoric rise up the First Division table.

However, despite looking much more accomplished than Trevor Francis' Birmingham side, the Bantams crashed to their first league defeat in nearly two months in the most heartbreaking of fashions.

When Paul Furlong equalised Jamie Lawrence's opening goal three minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half, the disappointment was immense.

However that was nothing compared to the stunning despair which followed the same player grabbing the winner with a 93rd minute penalty after Darren Moore had felled Peter Ndlovu.

It was a real 'head-in-hands' moment for the City fans sat in the main stand paddock as they pondered just how their side had managed to lose the game.

In fact, the result had been such a travesty that two Blues fans sat in front of the Press box actually apologised to me after the game because their team had won!

The Bantams had approached the game in just the right manner and it was clear from the opening moments that Jewell had sent his side out determined to grab all three points.

A Dele Adebola header which hit the crossbar apart, the opening 45 minutes belonged entirely to Bradford with Jamie Lawrence in sensational form on the right.

The 28-year-old has been in great form during January and yesterday was no different with the Blues left back Simon Marsh receiving such a roasting that he was withdrawn after 45 minutes.

Lawrence also grabbed the Bantams' goal although he will be the first to admit that his strike owed everything to Robbie Blake.

The Bradford striker was again in fine form with his ability to turn sharply and play the ball with both feet drawing regular bursts of applause from the normally partisan home crowd.

And it was a typical piece of skill from Blake out wide on the left which created the opening goal when he turned quickly to lose his marker before racing into the penalty area and squaring the ball for Lawrence to tap into the net.

This 26th minute strike stunned the home side and the Bantams really should have gone in at the break at least two goals ahead.

Obviously mindful that when the two sides met in August both Bradford goals came from set-pieces, the Blues defence looked shaky whenever Gareth Whalley or Peter Beagrie swung a corner across the penalty area.

And such was the indecision in the home defence that Lee Mills had three very good chances in the air to grab his 20th strike of the season.

Unfortunately for Bradford, Mills could not apply the finishing touch to one of these chances and this allowed the Blues back into the game.

The equaliser came three minutes into stoppage time and had an element of fortune about it with Furlong slamming the ball into the net after several lucky ricochets.

This goal fired the home side up because for a 15-minute spell just after half-time they took control of the game with Dele Adebola, switched to the left flank at half-time, posing all sorts of problems.

The Bantams weathered this storm though and could easily have taken all three points when Peter Beagrie, back to form approaching his best in the second half, curled an exquisite shot past Kevin Poole but the ball hit the crossbar.

And when Lee Mills failed to put the rebound into the net, Jewell's men may have sensed it was not going to be their day.

However nothing could have prepared them for the gut-wrenching disappointment which was to follow when Furlong grabbed the winner to prove that football can be the cruellest game of all.

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