Bradford City 2-1 Shrewsbury Town

Newly promoted Bradford City came from a goal behind to clinch a 2-1 victory against Graham Turner’s Shrewsbury Town thanks to a last minute winner from James Hanson.  Victory for the Bantams sees them climb up to 5^th place in the League One table whilst Shrewsbury drop to 15^th after a second successive defeat.

Defeat was hard to imagine for Town after such a positive start to the game, with an early goal inside the opening two minutes. Tom Bradshaw gave the visitors the lead, meeting a Ryan Woods cross to head Town in front. However, as is said on so many occasions, it can be dangerous to score so early on, which is due to the fact that there is such a long time for the team to defend that lead.

Despite this, Shrewsbury managed to sustain their 1-0 advantage for the rest of the first half.

Although Salop started the second half resiliently, Bradford equalised with half an hour left of the match. Mark Yeates delivered an impressive cross and winger Kyel Reid equalised, intensifying the atmosphere at the Valley Parade Stadium, which has enjoyed a significant increase in match day attendance since the home side’s promotion to League One.

For the second game in a row, Shrewsbury were reduced to 10 men. After Jon Taylor’s dismissal against Wolverhampton Wanderers a week earlier, Dave Winfield received his marching orders with just three minutes of normal time remaining. Having already received a yellow card earlier in the game, which was for an incident in the 62^nd minute , Winfield was given a second yellow card for handball. He had actually taken Bradford striker Nahki Wells out of the game in the first half with a late challenge, forcing the player to be substituted. Winfield managed to escape with no punishment on that occasion.

With an extra man, the hosts gathered momentum and James Hanson picked up a loose ball on his way to executing a powerful strike with his right foot, that went past Shrewsbury goalkeeper Chris Weale, to grab victory in the 90^th minute.

Town manager Graham Turner said "It was a harsh red card for David Winfield. To pick out the incident and send him off is beyond my comprehension.

"But we should have been capable of holding on to 1-1. We are lacking the knowhow and mental toughness required to win these games - and find that second goal. We need to look at ourselves and ask the question of why we are losing games like this.”

Shrewsbury have two consecutive home games to look forward to as they look to bounce back from two disappointing league defeats and return to winning ways. Carlisle United travel to the Greenhous Meadow this Saturday and Town host Gillingham a week later.