Bradford City get 'reality check' after defeat to Chesterfield, says boss Derek Adams

Bradford City manager Derek Adams says his team got a ‘reality check’ after losing to Chesterfield.
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The Bantams had won all five of their previous pre-season matches, including against Blackburn Rovers and Doncasters Rovers, but found themselves two goals down after five minutes following strikes from Danny Rowe and Stefan Payne.

Rowe scrambled the ball home from close-range against his former club after two minutes and Payne beat the offside trap to add a second soon after, which Adams felt should have been ruled out.

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Adams, who led Morecambe to promotion to League One through the play-offs last season before making the move to Valley Parade, changed the entire starting line-up at half-time and they had more joy after the break.

Bradford City boss Derek Adams.Bradford City boss Derek Adams.
Bradford City boss Derek Adams.

Paudie O’Connor halved the deficit with a header four minutes into the second-half and Charles Vernam hit the crossbar with a header from six yards but the Spireites held on for their second win of pre-season.

Adams fielded a mix of youth and experience in each half and said he now had ‘clarity’ on certain players.

"Sometimes you need a reality check and tonight we have had that,” Adams told the Telegraph & Argus. “But in the end, we still had enough chances to win the game.

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"In the first half, (Ollie) Crankshaw and (Abo) Eisa had two very good opportunities, we should have had a penalty, and they maybe shouldn't have had their second, which was offside.

"But over the night, we had a lot of good play. We could probably have won the game, but we didn't."