Bradford City 1 - 0 Gillingham

BRADFORD added to Gillingham’s anguish on Saturday after an 88th minute strike underlined the slender margin between joy and despair.

The winning goal from Andy Cooke also highlighted the need for Gillingham to find an answer to their current goal drought, which is quickly turning into a crisis.

Gillingham had delivered the grit and determination that manager Neale Cooper had demanded but once more their timid and ineffective forward play kept their hosts in the game.

With just two minutes of play remaining, Cooper’s side were looking to boast a third consecutive clean sheet, while making it just one defeat in seven.

Bradford, with the veteran yet effective partnership of Dean Windass and Steve Claridge up front, had struggled to break Gillingham’s defence all afternoon. But with the final whistle looming, Cooke converted Windass’ cross.

Gillingham were a far more competent team than the one that had struggled to see off Crawley in last Tuesday’s LDV Vans trophy tie, and the one that received harsh criticism for recent displays against Southend and Yeovil.

Performance and spirit aside, Gillingham still failed where it mattered and without goals their chances of picking up points will be severely restricted.

Neil Harris again looked ineffective and was lucky to last 78 minutes before being replaced by another striker failing to produce the goods, Steven Hislop.

Cooper threw teenager Frannie Collin on ahead of Hislop to replace Danny Spiller, who had limped off with an ankle injury just before the break.

Collin, who had netted on his debut in Tuesday’s LDV tie, split Bradford’s defence in two just seconds after coming on and showed a refreshing amount of creativity and excitement, two words lacking from Gills’ performances in recent games.

Bradford’s large pitch seemed the ideal place for wingers to express themselves but it was only Bobby Petta and Ben Muirhead who were making use of the extra width, although full-backs Tom Williams and Jon Wallis both stodd up to their defensive job admirably.

Gillingham’s closest chance in the opening half fell to Andy Hessenthaler, who tried to lob goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts from the edge of the area. Bullock, making his league debut for Gillingham, kept out a thunderous shot from Darren Holloway.

Gillingham had still failed to create a chance of note and when Windass missed the target with a header from six yards out deep into the game, it looked increasingly like a goalless draw.

Windass wasn’t finished though and after teasing the defence all day, he found his way into the box, skipped around Bullock, and delivered a perfect pass to substitute Cooke, who stroked the ball home.

Gillingham: Bullock, Wallis, Cox, Hope, Williams, Hessenthaler, Saunders (Flynn 72), Crofts, Jarvis, Spiller (Collin 44), Harris.
Subs Not Used: Crichton, Jackman, Hislop.