Bradford City boss Mark Hughes praises Chesterfield for performance in pre-season friendly win

The Spireites dominated large periods of the game and got their rewards in the second-half thanks to a brace from Joe Quigley before Liam Mandeville added a third.

The Bantams are second favourites for the League Two title this season and are further ahead in their pre-season schedule, opening their campaign against Doncaster Rovers this weekend, but it was the Blues who were by far the more impressive side.

Hughes’ men beat Championship Sunderland 2-0 in their previous friendly but the former Wales boss felt his side were ‘naive’ against Town.

Hughes said: “We were not very good today. Credit to Chesterfield - I thought they were a lot better than we were.

“Much like us against Sunderland, they were better on the front foot and at anticipating things.

“We have to match teams’ physicality. If they are going to make things awkward for us, we have to be ready.

“There was possibly naivety. Every game is different and you have to think on your feet when playing a decent opposition.

“We got a little bit pegged in and needed to find space. They were very good at pressing which caused us problems.

“I am disappointed, because I wanted to create continuity with our performance levels.

“If we want to be successful this season, we need consistent results and performances.”

He added:“I am pleased enough with parts of the game, but that performance was disappointing.

“We need to bang out results and performances to be consistent. Our level of standard has dropped since midweek, and we need to improve.”

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