League Two
December 26, 2012
Bradford
2 - 1
Accrington
League Two
15:00 +00:00, December 26, 2012
Coral Windows Stadium, England
Referee: Geoff Eltrigham
Bantams triumph to extend Stanley misery
Scoring Summary
| Bradford City | Accrington Stanley |
|---|---|
| Garry Thompson (24') | Romuald Boco (79') |
| Alan Connell (86') |
Teams
| Bradford City | Accrington Stanley |
|---|---|
| 12 Matt Duke | 1 Paul Rachubka |
| 23 Rory McArdle | 2 Peter Murphy |
| 3 James Meredith | 6 Dean Winnard |
| 2 Stephen Darby | 24 Lee Molyneux |
| 25 Tom Naylor | 3 Michael Liddle |
| 18 Gary Jones | 5 Aristote Nsiala |
| 11 Garry Thompson | 4 Luke Joyce |
| 24 Nathan Doyle | 12 George Miller |
| 14 Will Atkinson | 21 James Beattie |
| 20 Zavon Hines | 33 Romuald Boco |
| 9 James Hanson | 7 Craig Lindfield |
| Substitutes | |
| 16 Carl McHugh | Andrew Dawber 22 |
| 4 Richard Ravenhill | Thomas Eckersley 18 |
| 7 Kyel Reid | Bohan Dixon 15 |
| 8 Ritchie Jones | Will Hatfield 10 |
| 26 Blair Turgott | Luke Clark 14 |
| 17 Alan Connell | Padraig Amond 23 |
| 21 Nahki Wells | Markus Carver 19 |
| Substitutions | |
| Nahki Wells for Zavon Hines (44) | Markus Carver for Lee Molyneux (46) |
| Alan Connell for Nahki Wells (72) | Padraig Amond for James Beattie (88) |
| Kyel Reid for Will Atkinson (81) | |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Dean Winnard (32) | |
| Luke Joyce (62) | |
| Michael Liddle (78) | |
| Aristote Nsiala (90) | |
| Red Cards | |
| Dean Winnard (67) | |
| · Squads: Bradford City | Accrington Stanley | |
Substitutes Kyel Reid and Alan Connell combined to earn a hard-fought 2-1 win for play-off contenders Bradford and extend 10-man Accrington's winless run to eight matches.
There were just four minutes of normal time remaining when Reid supplied the cross for Connell to score with a glancing header, seven minutes after Stanley had levelled through Rommy Boco.
Bradford deservedly went in front in the 24th minute courtesy of a goal from Garry Thompson, who scored with a superb right-footed shot into the far corner after Rory McArdle's long free-kick had been headed into his path by striker James Hanson.
Accrington, without a win in seven matches, were a more dangerous side in the second half and equalised in the 79th minute, despite going down to 10 men when Dean Winnard was sent off for a second bookable offence following a foul on substitute striker Nahki Wells.
The home defence failed to clear a free-kick from Accrington skipper Luke Joyce and Benin international midfielder Boco stabbed the ball into the net from close range, but Connell hit back to win the game for Bradford.