Saturday 7 April 2018
Sky Bet League One
Blackpool 5 (Delfouneso 16, 29, 70, Solomon-Otabor 22, Longstaff 81)
Bradford City 0
Kick Off: 3.00pm
at Bloomfield Road
Att: 5,337 (2,331 visitors)
The Bantams sadly endured a horrible afternoon to forget on the seaside this Saturday after conceding five in a heavy defeat at Blackpool.
Despite being roared on by over 2,300 away supporters at Bloomfield Road, Simon Grayson’s men could unfortunately only deliver an off-colour performance against the Tangerines, falling to a comprehensive 5-0 loss in the process.
Two goals from Nathan Delfouneso and an individual effort from Viv Solomon-Otabor saw the hosts firmly in control with just under half an hour played.
City could have actually pulled a goal back before the interval in slightly fortunate circumstances, but Jay Spearing kicked clear off the line after Colin Daniel had headed towards his own goal from a Tony McMahon corner.
With City up against it going into the second period, Grayson responded by bringing on Tyrell Robinson and Kai Bruenker off the bench at the break.
In a lively start to the second period from City, Robinson went close to netting but his blocked effort from an attempted Curtis Tilt clearance bounced agonisingly wide of the far post.
Blackpool realistically ended the game as a contest with twenty minutes to go when Delfouneso swooped to head home his third of the afternoon from a Jimmy Ryan cross.
Romain Vincelot suffered a nasty deep cut to his knee in the build-up to Delfouneso’s hat-trick goal but, to his credit, the Frenchman soldiered on after lengthy treatment.
With City having used all three substitutions by this stage, Vincelot hobbled through the rest of the match to ensure Grayson’s side finished with eleven players on the pitch.
Sean Longstaff completed City’s misery late on when he swooped to net Blackpool’s fifth after Colin Doyle had failed to cling onto a cross.
Doyle claimed he was fouled by Blackpool substitute Mark Cullen as he went to catch the ball, but referee Anthony Backhouse allowed play to continue and Longstaff slotted home into an unguarded net.
Supporters can access in-match updates and match stats from the fixture via our Match Centre - HERE.
Match highlights and post-match interviews will be available on iFollow Bantams - HERE.
BLACKPOOL LINE UP:
Lumley, Turton, Tilt, Robertson, Daniel, Ryan, Spearing, Solomon-Otabor, Delfouneso (Menga 83), Longstaff (Cooke 85), Vassell (Cullen 74)
Subs not used: Mafoumbi, Aimson, Gnanduillet, Agyei
BRADFORD CITY LINE UP:
Doyle, Chicksen, Vincelot, Kilgallon, Warnock, McMahon, Guy, Law (Robinson 46), McCartan (Gilliead 62), Wyke, Patrick (Bruenker 46)
Subs not used: Raeder, Poleon, Dieng, Knight-Percival