Somehow it felt right that Bradford City’s 2-0 win at Tranmere Rovers ended in an almighty hailstorm.
Because, while they deserved their first League Two away win since the season’s start, it was never easy.
Away fans take pride in being present throughout their club’s lowest points. Being an away fan means putting in the extra effort. On Saturday, more than 1,500 people filled the away end.
There are worse locations to go in terms of distance and facilities than Prenton Park, but the players from Bradford had it tough.
They were already without injured centre-backs Ciaran Kelly and Aden Baldwin, and they could have done without Neill Byrne’s morning banana returning immediately.
“He wanted to give it a go in the warm-up, but he was back in within five minutes,” said manager Graham Alexander. Paul Huntington, an emergency signing to fill that job, was also unwell earlier this week.
When ex-Bantam Omari Patrick skipped down the touchline and then the byline to finish the first half, on-loan Barnsley defender Jack Shepherd swung over and thundered into a tackle that left him sore where he previously had a dead leg.
He, too, made several attempts to continue before limping away from a second round of treatment 10 minutes after the restart.
It left a back three of right-back Brad Halliday, Byrne’s 11th-hour substitute, Lewis Richards, drafted onto the bench by Byrne’s departure and the pitch by Shepherd’s, and Cheick Diabate in the midst of a back three for the first time in claret-and-amber.
They had to man the barricades for 17 minutes, clinging to Andy Cook’s advantage after his accurate poke from outside the area, until he scored again on the counter-attack.
During that time, just one shot was on target: Calum Kavanagh’s from the other end. Sam Walker’s sole save of the day came after half an hour.
With a first clean sheet on the road since Accrington Stanley in March (ignore the Football League Trophy group stage, everyone else does), in weather that began bright and warm and turned grimmer and colder, two more goals for Cook, and plenty of adversity, afternoons like Saturday build team spirit.
However, it was much more than just team spirit. This win had hundreds of participants, as the squad recognized walking through the hail to thank fans who were still singing. This was the club spirit.
“We need them, and they need us,” explained manager Graham Alexander. “They are involved in whatever we want to do.
“Talk to the players; none of us can win alone.
“We must band together as a club because everyone outside will want to bring us down and beat us.
“If we can join together, we can form a much stronger entity. I believe we’ve demonstrated this in the last couple weeks. The fans have supported us even when we have had poor performances and outcomes.
“I think they’ve understood and hopefully they’ll get the benefits in the long term.”
After two excellent wins in a week, it was easy to forget how bad things had been the previous six weeks, with only one league win.
“We had a couple of games before Monday where they weren’t great,” Cook admits. “At the start of the season, we were winning games, but then we experienced a little drop.
“We’ve won the last two so we need to keep momentum going and keep winning games, hopefully.”
If defending was a major reason Bradford did not lose, Cook was the driving force behind the victory.
Jay Benn won a corner in the 23rd minute; Tyreik Wright cushioned the ball inside, and Diabate laid it back for Cook to score.
Richie Smallwood released Kavanagh midway through the second half, and Cook was able to score his sixth goal in four games since switching teams.
Before, during, and after, the foundation was firm.
Halliday was League Two’s best right-back last season, and his instincts dealt with Patrick’s in-and-out sprints, propelling him forward in possession. The less familiar centre-backery was also handled admirably.
At halftime, he was playing left-back in a five-man defence, with Huntington deemed capable of winning the game. Until then, Diabate had been a formidable last man, with Smallwood serving as his reliable shield.
It was roll-your-sleeves-up, grit-your-teeth, sing-your-hearts-out stuff, with Cook’s excellence as a big cherry on top. Even the weather was perfect for an away triumph.
Tranmere Rovers: McGee; Walker, Davies, Turnbull (Taylor 84); Norman, O’Connor, Merrie (Jennings HT), Bradshaw (Saunders HT); Morris, Hendry (74), Patrick; Dennis (Finley HT). Norris and Murphy are unused substitutes.
Bradford City: S Walker; Halliday, Diabate, Shepherd (Richards 55); Smallwood; Benn, J Walker (Evans 84), Oduor (Pointon 89), Wright (Huntington 84); Cook and Kavanagh. Doyle, Smith, and Oliver were unused substitutes.
Referee: SS Gill (West London).
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