Bradford City 4-1 Bristol Rovers (League Two)

Tom Hitchcock scored for the second game in succession

The less said about Tuesday night's trip to Valley Parade the better. We travelled north with optimism and excitement but travelled back with nothing. It was a case of the game, against a very strong Bradford side, being too much for our youthful, injury-hit squad to take on. Ellis Harrison and Oumare Tounkara were both ruled out pre-match which made things difficult enough, but utility man Danny Woodards also sustained a nasty injury in the first half to stretch us even further. The Bantams went in front early on and never looked in any real danger of surrendering their lead, instead adding to it slowly but surely.

Livewire striker Nakhi Wells set them off by heading home a right-wing cross and the opener came minutes after he had struck the crossbar. Then Woodards was forced off with his anterior cruciate ligament injury that will keep him out for up to 9 months (our fifth occurrence of such a nasty injury this season alone) and forced John Ward in to a substitution. Young midfielder Ollie Clarke came on in his place and partnered Ollie Norburn in the middle of the park. Unsure what to expect from the Welshman, Gasheads saw him win the ball deep in the Bradford half, maraud into their penalty box with a clear sight of goal but shoot straight at 'keeper Jon McLaughlin. It was a great chance to equalise but would have been undeserved and the Bantams preserved their one-goal lead. It wasn't long before they doubled their advantage, when the referee awarded a dubious penalty. We were stitched up by two ridiculous penalty decisions against us in the same fixture last season in a 2-2 draw so it was unbelievable that luck was going against us again. Sure enough Wells stepped up to stroke the ball past Steve Mildenhall and make it 2-0 to the hosts midway through the first half.

Just when you thought the scoring was complete for the first 45 minutes, Rovers conceded again on the stroke of half-time. Mildenhall rushed to claim a corner, missed, allowing defender Andrew Davies to head in to an empty net. 2-0 would have been difficult enough to come back from but the third goal was a killer. The half-time retreat was a weird one as we were all resigned to a defeat in what was supposed to be a game that we could nick something from. Our impressive goals against column was at risk from serious damage and that needed to be prevented in the second period, whilst it was important we grabbed a goal to give us something to cheer. Sure enough we did just that, 300 seconds after the restart. Tom Hitchcock, fresh from his first professional goal last Saturday, raced clear of the home defence before calmly slotting the ball in off the post.

The positive start was soon destroyed by Garry Thompson who was gifted the chance to steer home from close-range 7 minutes later and complete the scoring. Despite being 4-1 behind, Rovers did try and attack McLaughlin's goal and were denied an in-direct free-kick 10 yards out by a set of officials who were scared to give anything against the 10,000 home supporters. The defender clearly directed the ball back to his goalkeeper when under pressure in the box, who pounced on the ball with both hands. The Rovers dugout leapt out of their seats and Phil Parkinson's bench were resigned to what seemed an inevitable decision. However, the terrified referee waved play on as if what he had just witnessed was legitimate play. The standards of officials truly is abysmal at our level, which isn't right really. It wouldn't have changed the game on this occasion but it's moments like that that can have a big impact, so the right decision needs to be made.

Ryan Brunt fired high and wide from just outside the box and Hitchcock was just too slow to react to a cross from Joe Anyinsah. The game petered out and it was fair to say the home side romped to victory over a weak Rovers line-up. Our play-off hopes were in tatters, as short as they may have been, but there were no jeers or vents of frustration, which was pleasing. Gasheads recognised the incredible improvement we have made under John Ward and know that we completed our mission of staying in League Two, which seemed impossible 3 short months ago. It's on to Southend United tomorrow who are now also not considered realistic play-off candidates. We may now have nothing to play for other than pride but the players have contracts at stake and will want to impress Ward to ensure they are a part of what he tries to achieve next season. Harrison has not travelled with the squad to play against Mildenhall's former employers but Tounkara is back and could be recalled to the starting XI. Captain Tom Parkes is also available again after his two-game suspension for 10 cautions and that should serve to strengthen our backline again.

I'll see you at Roots Hall!