Will Stan Collymore face charges from the FA for some of the most blatant crowd incitement I've ever seen ?

Why have Bradford replaced a perfectly acceptable stand with a roof with a crap one with no roof ?

Was the ball-boy on the right hand side the most obnoxious little git you've ever seen ?

Is it possible to get thrombosis from spending too long stuck on a minibus ?

Why were there 3000 ghosts watching the game ?

What was Steven Lodge on ?

When the Police took Leeds fans from the Bradford end, why didn't they do anything about the Bradford fans who attacked them on the way out ?

Why can't Bradford sell out their ground for a local derby ?

How on earth did we let that shower of shit hold us to a draw ?

Once I'd survived the challenges of actually getting oop north via the machinations of British Rail and the afore-mentioned minibus, the day started well as I won the pub card in the Peacock. (Which is a much pleasanter option before away games than Home ones). The usual crawl through Bradford as it started to piss with rain and we got into the ground and only Niggy's soup staved off frostbite.

A 3-5-2 formation at the start with Matteo at the back and Harte and Kelly pushed forward. First 15 minutes we looked in control and it took a clearance off the line from a header at a corner and a tip over the bar from Bowyer's shot to stop us taking the lead. Bradford won a corner up our end and Collymore responded to the inevitable abuse with various gestures, which of course only inflamed the situtation.

Stephen Lodge was also proving what a prat he was by booking about 4 of ours (including Harte after Carbone dived) whilst ignoring worse tackles from Bradford players. Shortly afterwards Collymore scored an admittedly brilliant goal with an overhead kick but then ran right to the front of the Leeds fans to inflame the situation even more and only a combination of Police and stewards managed to stop a few fans getting onto the pitch and attacking him.

For most of the rest of the 1st half we lost our way a bit and the constant rain was forming puddles on the pitch and making it difficult to play decent football, as we were dragged down to their level. We still came closest to scoring when another corner led to Matteo's header being cleared off the line.

Second half - again it took a while to get into our stride but for a spell in the middle we were all over them and it was amazing we didn't score. Clarke made 3 or 4 good saves, including foiling David Wetherall's attempt to raise his status amongst Leeds fans even more. Hay also managed to scoop one over the bar from 8 yards and a flow of crosses had Bradford under constant pressure. Smith had a penalty appeal turned down which could easily have been given and then got involved in a spot of handbags with the defenders, which went on longer than necessary because Lodge had run to the other side of the pitch to avoid the Leeds protests.

A couple more incidents of note, Viduka chased a through ball, Clarke came out of the area and the ref gave a free-kick and booked Clarke for handball. But surely if it was handball he had to send the keeper off. A bit later Bowyer collided with the keeper, while both were receiving treatment, Collymore decided to run 70 yards to start complaining about the challenge even though none of the other Bradford players (all closer) were bothered about it. He then made more gestures to the Leeds fans and had to be told to behave himself and dragged away by the other Bradford players. He was substituted soon afterwards.

Bowyer limped off soon after this and was replaced by Burns which led to a reshuffle to 4-4-2 with Matteo wide on the left. This proved to work in our favour, as just when it looked like Bradford had weathered (no pun intended) the storm, Smith found Matteo after a good run and his cross was headed in by Viduka. We should have gone onto win it, but never really controlled the game to the end, though we again came close when Viduka dragged the keeper out of his area and his chip drifted just past the post.

Scores

Robinson 7 - No chance with goal, otherwise bored and wet.

Kelly 7 / Harte 6 - Neither really gave us the width that 3-5-2 was meant to. More crap free-kicks from Harte.

Hay 6 - Defended OK, missed a couple of decent chances but did make a nuisance of himself up the other end.

Woodgate 7 - Assured at the back, though did totally miss one header when it looked like he might equalise.

Matteo 8 - Very composed at the back, looked an excellent defender, gave us more width than anyone else managed when he moved to midfield.

Dacourt 8.5 - MoTM All over the place, with a Kanu-type ability to come out of tackles with the ball still stuck to his foot, couple of heart in mouth moments as he slid in after being booked.

Bowyer / Bakke 6 each - Both unusually anonymous. Some decent corners from Bowyer.

Smith 7 - Worked hard as ever, without ever getting any clear chances. Don't bother taking anymore corners though. Caught off-side to often.

Viduka 7 - Looked a bit disinterested 1st half but our biggest threat second half. Took his goal nicely - could score a lot in a Lee Chapman type of way.

Burns 5 - Surprised he's preferred to Jones, combative enough but needs to learn when to stand-off and not give away needless free-kicks which cost us decent positions.

Ref - Lodge - Just hopeless, worst this season except Munich at home. Totally unable to distinguish between a foul caused by the slippery conditions and a bad tackle which deserved a booking.

We didn't play well but still deserved to win, Bradford are very poor and Collymore will backfire on them soon. Odds on him having a fight with Carbone before the end of the season? I guess we didn't need a physical game on a heavy pitch, 2 days before going to Tranmere, I hope DOL picks the reserves, if we have any left. Players need a rest for the big games next week and it'd be stupid to risk more injuries. My handy little Premier guide doesn't have a map of Birkenhead. Anyone got any pub ideas? Given the state of British Rail better think about leaving soon.

Reporter: Matt G