Bradford City vs Shrewsbury Town. Sky Bet League One.
University of Bradford StadiumAttendance18,997.
Thursday 12 April 2018 22:14, UK
Bradford and Shrewsbury played out a goalless draw on Thursday night which did neither side any favours in Sky Bet League One.
Shrewsbury were chasing a win to try and close the gap on the top two of Wigan and Blackburn, but Omar Beckles' red card in the second half for two bookable offences ended any hopes of claiming all three points at Valley Parade.
Having suffered the disappointment of losing at Wembley in the Checkatrade Trophy final on Sunday, they're now also four points off the pace in the race for automatic promotion.
Bradford, meanwhile, would have been hoping to keep their slim play-off hopes alive with victory, but find themselves eight points off the pace with just six matches to play, although they do still have at least a game in hand on all the sides above them.
The Bantams went close after 10 minutes as Dean Henderson made two saves in quick succession, first denying Alex Gilliead before then keeping out Timothee Dieng. While Shrewsbury's best chance of the first half fell to Jon Nolan on 38 minutes after Shaun Whalley's fine ball over the top, but he could only fire straight at Colin Doyle.
The game did open up on the hour mark after Beckles' dismissal. The Shrews defender picked up a second yellow card for a poor challenge on Nat Knight-Percival, which handed the ascendancy to Bradford in the closing stages.
And the Bantams had a huge chance to take the lead after 74 minutes when Tony McMahon's cross picked out Charlie Wyke, but he could only head over unmarked from six yards.
On a night that largely lacked quality in the final third, Whalley was the standout player in an attacking sense. Pretty much every decent opportunity Shrewsbury created came through him.
Simon Grayson: "It was a whole-hearted performance from the players who came in and showed what they can do. They did the basics right, worked hard, tackled, chased and competed against a very good team in Shrewsbury.
"We're delighted with the performance, just maybe disappointed we didn't win the game."
Paul Hurst: "I've said I'll always back the players. It wasn't us [in the Checkatrade Trophy final] for whatever reason but I don't think you can question this team over the course of the season.
"11 against 11 I thought we were on top and if it had stayed that way we might have had a better chance of winning it."
Both sides are back in Sky Bet League One action on Tuesday night. Shewsbury host Charlton and Bradford welcome Portsmouth.
