Bradford City 1 - 1 Stockport County

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Saturday Nov 24 2007 03:00

Stockport winger David Poole snatched a dramatic injury-time equaliser to deny 10-man Bradford City a fourth successive win.

After being dumped out of the FA Cup in a penalty shoot-out on Thursday night, County had to dig deep to salvage a point after City's leading scorer Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu fired the home side ahead after 71 minutes.

After a miserable first half the visitors looked the more threatening especially when Paul Heckingbottom was sent off in the 53rd minute for a dubious second bookable offence. Despite the red card, Ndumbu-Nsungu's bolt from the blue had looked to have secured an unlikely victory for the Bantams.

City had barely tested County keeper Conrad Logan, but 16 minutes after Heckingbottom's departure the powerful striker shrugged off his marker before firing home a low right-foot shot from the edge of the County box.

The visitors must have thought their luck was out after a remarkable start to the second half.

In their first attack after the break, striker Liam Dickinson did well to hold the ball up in the Bradford box and, when he forced the ball through to Tommy Rowe, the winger looked odds-on to score.

However City's Jamaican keeper Donovan Ricketts blocked the close-range shot with his legs, but he rode his luck minutes later when he flapped at a corner.

With Ricketts all at sea, Dickinson drilled in a goal-bound half-volley only to see his shot hit the back of fellow striker Peter Thorne who was bizarrely on the goal-line facing the net.

For the second home game in a row City were forced to play with 10 men after Heckingbottom was harshly dismissed for a clumsy challenge. Minutes later Dickinson was denied again, by another superb save by Ricketts.

Stuart McCall shuffled his line-up which in fact improved their attacking options with Omar Daley going close with a near-post strike that was saved by Logan.

Almost immediately after the fourth official held up his board indicating five extra minutes, Poole popped up to volley home the leveller.

The winger, who had looked threatening out on the right, was on the spot to fire in a stunning right-foot volley as City's defenders were caught flat-footed and this time Ricketts got nowhere near his well-placed 12-yard effort.

  • 90
    That's it, it's all over, the referee has blown the final whistle.
  • 90
    Goal!! Stockport have scored with David Poole putting it in the back of the net.
  • 88
    Peter Thorne is being taken off, Barry Conlon has come on in his place.
  • 86
    Matt Clarke is booked for unsporting behaviour.
  • 82
    Bradford are replacing Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu with Craig Bentham.
  • 79
    Stockport are replacing Michael Bowler with Anthony Pilkington.
  • 71
    Goal!! Bradford have scored with Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu putting it in the back of the net.
  • 68
    Jason Taylor is being taken off, Paul Turnbull has come on in his place.
  • 66
    Matty McNeil is booked for unsporting behaviour.
  • 63
    Stockport are replacing Michael Rose with Adam Griffin.
  • 53
    It's red. He's off. Paul Heckingbottom has been sent off.
  • 46
    Bradford are replacing Scott Phelan with Omar Daley.
  • 46
    The second half is under way with the score currently at 0 v 0.
  • 45
    Half time whistle is blown by R Lee
  • 30
    Liam Dickinson is booked for dissent.
  • 29
    Paul Heckingbottom goes into the referees book for unsporting behaviour.
  • 0
    The ref has blown his whistle and the match has started.

Statistics

Bradford City
Shots on target 6
Shots off target 6
Shots off bar/post 0
Fouls 16
Offsides 1
Corners 1

Stockport County
Shots on target 5
Shots off target 6
Shots off bar/post 1
Fouls 13
Offsides 3
Corners 4

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