Spirited City second best yet again

7:30am Monday 1st December 2008

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City 1 Leyton Orient 2

Seconds out for City once again.

For the fourth year in a row, the Bantams exited the FA Cup in the round before the big boys enter the stage.

After Barnsley, Millwall and Tranmere, it was Leyton Orient’s turn to deny them a potential Premier League windfall.

But unlike 12 months ago, City this time went down fighting.

And they can count themselves unfortunate not to have earned a second crack at the League One side at Brisbane Road – though whether they would have wanted a midweek haul down to East London is another matter.

With City’s current injury list – and given the traditional hectic league schedule coming up – an extra game would have been seen as a hindrance, however deserved it might have been.

Stuart McCall had called on his players to put on a show worthy of the occasion but anything had to be better than the limp effort this time last year against Tranmere.

City responded by playing their part against a side who, despite technically starting the day only nine places higher, were enjoying a rich vein of form.

Orient had maintained that at the end with their fifth win in six games but at least City had the consolation of scoring the first goal against them for a month – an incredible 576 minutes since their defence was least breached by MK Dons.

The unexpected triumph at MK Dons in the last round had lifted hopes of toppling another League One opponent. For a spell early in the second half, that looked a realistic proposition.

The fact that Orient’s winning goal was a pretty soft one was a bitter pill for Stuart McCall to swallow.

Seven minutes earlier, City had clawed their way back on terms with a deadly solo finish from Michael Boulding.

Then a bog-standard corner was flicked on by an unguarded Danny Granville and looped into the far corner of the net, despite Luke O’Brien’s best attentions on the line.

If only O’Brien, who had another very promising game, had been six inches taller he might have kept the ball out. If only somebody had picked up Granville in the first place.

“It was a sloppy goal,” admitted McCall. “I don’t even think Granville knew where it was going.

“It hit the back of his head and looped into the only place in the net it could have done.”

But that was it for City and the FA Cup for another season.

McCall, though, was right to point out the positives in his team’s display.

O’Brien continues to make the left back slot his own, allying a growing maturity defensively with a real threat when he attacks on the overlap.

He got a good test from former Doncaster winger JJ Melligan and had his tough moments early in the game. But the youngster stuck eagerly at his task and more than matched his opponent over the 90 minutes.

Another youngster to catch the eye was Tom Clarke, who delivered his most convincing performance in a City shirt.

It was a confident way to start the second month of his Huddersfield loan, although too many more games like this may persuade Gerry Murphy to use the 24-hour recall clause.

Clarke sat in midfield, as he had done effectively against Chesterfield, and seemed to snap at every ball going.

Rookie ref Craig Pawson booked him early on for one enthusiastic tackle too many on Granville but the yellow card didn’t take the edge off his game.

Clarke provided the bite which City’s engine room often lacks and freed fellow loanee Nicky Law to dart forward and support the frontmen.

It says something for the casualty list that a whole first-choice midfield is currently crammed into the treatment room. But the cracks were not too obvious in the patched-up middle line, which included three players who don’t actually belong to the club.

The third of those, Steve Jones, only arrived on Thursday from Burnley after Omar Daley joined fellow flyer Joe Colbeck on the sidelines.

The former Northern Ireland international did not see enough of the ball but when he did get possession, his pace certainly had an effect.

The first half belonged to Orient territorially, though City could point to two near-misses.

Martin Ling’s men dictated the early period and were rewarded with a 14th-minute lead.

Rhys Evans, who spent a seven-game spell at the London club in 2002, had already parried away an Adam Chambers free-kick but he had no chance of stopping Jason Demetriou’s curler from the edge of the D which found the top corner.

Within ten minutes, City could have been level as Kyle Nix sent Jones off to the races. The spiky-haired winger collected the pass ten yards inside his own half and zipped through Orient’s rearguard – no wonder his Turf Moor team-mates nicknamed him Sonic.

Law and Michael Boulding tried to keep up with him but Jones had his sights set on goal and drilled the ball across Glenn Garner and just wide of the right-hand post.

But Orient were knocking the ball about with the confidence of a team that hadn’t conceded for five games and Dean Morgan almost cashed in on a moment of dithering from TJ Moncur.

Back came City, with Boulding catching Garner by surprise by taking a shot on the turn very early. The keeper just managed to get fingers on it and divert the ball on to the woodwork.

It was a decent game but, with only 5,000 in the ground, lacked the usual atmosphere.

McCall tried to wind up the home fans as the second half began and City set about giving them something to cheer about.

Matt Clarke furiously claimed a penalty for a shirt pull and a bobbly cross from Nix was somehow missed by everybody.

Garner then saved from Nix before City’s pressure paid off as Boulding held off Alton Thelwell to latch on to Tom Clarke’s through ball and find the bottom corner. But no sooner had City got back into it, Orient struck again.

Granville’s header punctured the balloon for a while and only a fine save from Evans from Melligan prevented Orient going further ahead.

City recovered their senses to launch a late rally which saw Garner push out Moncur’s ambitious half-volley and Peter Thorne head wide.