Twenty Premiership clubs entered the third round of the FA Cup but it was not until the final fixture of this stage last night that one of them failed to reach at least a replay. Many will not be surprised that the bottom side Bradford City earned that dubious distinction but Bradford are unlucky to be the one and only.
Under Jim Jefferies they have unearthed some spirit in spite of their plight and deserved a draw. But, lacking a striker of real intent, they were unable to convert their superior pressure into a goal and were forced to watch as Hamilton Ricard showed them exactly what they were missing. That just over 7,000 locals saw it as well cannot have helped the City players' enthusiasm.
Ricard scored the 67th minute winner with an ambitious shot hardly in keeping with Middlesbrough's generally cautious approach. It sets up a home tie against Wimbledon or Notts County in the fourth round and while Middlesbrough were no more than ordinary last night, they once again left the pitch with their goal intact. That means in the six games since Terry Venables came to the aid of Bryan Robson Middlesbrough have conceded just two goals. Two goals in nine hours, they are unbeaten in Venables' time.
Bradford came into the game in a state best described as depressing. Five points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership, about to face Manchester United at the weekend, Jefferies has inherited a squad that needs carving up rather than trimming.
But City actually started well, the recent performance at Leicester having raised confidence. The speed of Middlesbrough's Alen Boksic may have worried the home defence but in the first 15 minutes Bradford had constructed three excellent moves, one of which ended with the under-rated Dean Windass skimming the post, and another with Mark Schwarzer scrambling across his line to save a Dean Saunders follow-up after Robert Molenaar had struck the other Middlesbrough post with a meaty header.
Bradford were working ferociously in midfield, successfully denying their individual counterparts any time or space.
Bradford's passing game was much easier on the eye and in the 22nd minute Windass supplied the pass of the night with a brilliant cross-field switch on the turn that Saunders charged onto. Saunders connected truly but should have hit the target.
Just after the interval Dan Petrescu came on and contributed to City's continued forward probing. Windass was again a major factor in these, hammering a shot that hit Schwarzer rather than being saved by the keeper in the 55th minute.
"We just lacked that cutting edge," said Jefferies, "but I thought we were the better side particularly in the first half."
In the 64th minute Boksic found Dean Gordon with an inspired reverse pass. Gordon delivered the perfect curling centre behind the Bradford backline but Ricard was inches short of making contact.
The Colombian was to make amends. Three minutes later, receiving a simple pass from Paul Ince, Ricard had little on as he stood on the edge of the Bradford area. The play was virtually static, Ricard looked up and sent an unstoppable curling effort over and around Gary Walsh into the far top corner. It was a goal good enough to win the final, never mind a third round tie.
