Bradford City 1 Luton Town 1

by Jeremy Cross

Attendance 13,083

Stuart McCall, the Bradford City manager, lambasted his team’s supporters after their treatment of Barry Conlon, the substitute and home team’s goalscorer, at the Coral Windows Stadium on Saturday. Conlon was booed after replacing Michael Boulding with 12 minutes remaining, but he made a mockery of the treatment he received by scoring with his first touch a minute later, producing a cool finish after a defensive mix-up between Michael Spillane and Conrad Logan.

Bradford had been reduced to ten men with 15 minutes left in the second half when Paul Heckingbottom was shown a second yellow card. Spillane denied them victory with a headed equaliser from Ed Asafu-Adjaye’s cross for Luton Town with four minutes remaining.

McCall said: “It was ridiculous and I’m very disappointed with the crowd. He’s got a Bradford shirt on and he’s our player, so what kind of support is that? It’s scandalous, and that’s why I celebrated his goal like I did. That hurt me more than anything. I had to apologise to Mick Harford [the Luton manager] afterwards, but if it had been any other player, then it wouldn’t have happened.”

Bradford City (4-4-2): R Evans – S Ainge, G Lee, M Clarke, P Heckingbottom – S Colbeck, D Furman, P McLaren, O Daley – P Thorne (sub: O’Brien, 83min), M Boulding (sub: B Conlon, 78). Substitutes not used: J McLaughlin, W Topp, K Nix. Booked: Heckingbottom, Colbeck. Sent off: Heckingbottom.

Luton Town (4-5-1): C Logan – E Asafu-Adjaye, M Spillane, H Worley, S Davis (sub: J Howells, 37) – C Gnakpa, K Keane, A Hall, R Jarvis (sub: R Charles, 82), L Emanuel (sub: P McVeigh, 46) – C Martin. Substitutes not used: D Brill, T Plummer. Booked: Martin, Gnakpa, Keane. Referee: G Laws.

Aldershot Town 3 Bury 3

Attendance 3,621

Alan Knill, the Bury manager, refused to criticise his players, despite seeing them surrender a three-goal lead in the final 21 minutes. Bury were cruising thanks to two goals from Andy Bishop and another from Paul Scott, but Rob Elvins began the comeback before Scott Davies’s penalty and Danny Hylton’s stunner earned Aldershot a point. Knill said: “We’re nine unbeaten and all of the other teams want to be where we are.” Gary Waddock, the Aldershot manager, said: “They are an excellent side, but the way we came back we deserve a hell of a lot of credit.”

Barnet 2 Accrington Stanley 1

Attendance 1,899

Barnet sealed their first home win of the season over ten-men Accrington Stanley on Saturday. In the 74th minute, Albert Adomah was brought down by Robbie Williams, an Accrington substitute, who was shown the red card, but John O’Flynn had his penalty saved by Kenny Arthur. From the resulting corner, Ismail Yakubu headed home from three yards to steal victory for the home team. Paul Fairclough, the Barnet manager, said: “Football is such an emotional game and everything was encapsulated within the space of about 30 seconds.”

Brentford 1 Macclesfield Town 0

Attendance 4,773

Brentford made hard work of beating Macclesfield Town to stretch their unbeaten run to nine matches. After Charlie MacDonald’s fierce right-foot shot had put them ahead early on they squandered a string of gilt-edged chances, enabling Macclesfield to keep hopes alive of a valuable away point until the end. Andy Scott, the Brentford manager, said: “It’s three points against a side who made it difficult for us and it stretches our unbeaten run.” Keith Alexander, the Macclesfield manager, said: “There were a lot of positives to be drawn individually and as a team.”

Chester City 0 Lincoln City 2

Attendance 1,962

Peter Jackson dedicated Lincoln City’s first away win to the club’s fans after a polished display against Chester City. Janos Kovacs and Adrian Patulea scored the goals, but it was the performance of his team as a whole that left Jackson purring. “I’m delighted for the supporters that have travelled all the way here and I’m pleased we’ve come away with a clean sheet and three points,” he said. Simon Davies, the Chester manager, said: “Our performance was not up to scratch and there were too many players who did not approach the game in the right manner.”

Darlington 1 Shrewsbury Town 1

Attendance 2,899

Sean Thornton received the plaudits after his stunning strike secured a point for Shrewsbury Town. Darlington took the lead after 55 minutes, when Alan White headed home, but Thornton saved the day with a 30-yard pile-driver 19 minutes from time. “Sean’s goal was an absolute stunner and I was delighted with the way that we kept our nerve and didn’t lose our heads after going a goal down,” Paul Simpson, the Shrewsbury manager, said. Dave Penney, the Darlington manager, said: “We probably edged possession and chances, but that was some strike.”

Exeter City 3 Gillingham 0

Attendance 4,819

Exeter City moved up to seventh place with this victory, all three goals coming in the opening 45 minutes when Adam Stansfield bagged a brace after Richard Logan had opened the scoring with only seven minutes played. Exeter are now unbeaten in three matches, much to the delight of Paul Tisdale, their manager, who said: “I thought it was a very professional performance and I think the players got it tactically absolutely right.” Mark Stimson, the Gillingham manager, said: “The team starts with me and I take 99 per cent of the blame for the performance.”

Morecambe 2 Chesterfield 2

Attendance 1,734

Rene Howe scored a late goal to delight Sammy McIlroy, the Morecambe manager. Stewart Drummond put Morecambe ahead, but Gregor Robertson levelled from close range. Jamie Ward’s penalty gave Chesterfield the lead before Howe, who is on loan from Peterborough United, popped up to equalise. McIlroy said: “We have gone six games unbeaten now and we have to take the positives from that.” Lee Richardson, the Chesterfield manager, said: “The commitment and effort was there for all to see and we must now look to build on this.”

Port Vale 1 Notts County 2

Attendance 6,247

Notts County were indebted to Jamie Forrester, the veteran striker, who scored one goal and made the other in his team’s hard-fought win. Forrester headed County ahead after six minutes, but Luke Prosser equalised for the home side three minutes after the break only for Myles Weston to squeeze a powerful shot in at the near post for the winner on 66 minutes. “Jamie was magnificent and he has been in most of our games so far,” Ian McParland, the Notts County manager, said. “His link-up play was tremendous again and he’s a big influence on our side.”

Rochdale 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 2

Attendance 2,566

John Still, the Dagenham & Redbridge manager, believed that his team’s display was close to a “complete performance”. Rochdale were well under par, but the visiting team were good value for their win. “We’re well pleased because Rochdale are a very good side and we’ve had them watched a few times,” Still said. “From our point of view, that was as close to a complete performance as you can get.” Keith Hill, the Rochdale manager, said: “We were woeful. It was the worst performance in 79 games of my reign.”

Rotherham United 4 Grimsby Town 1

Attendance 3,889

Rotherham United came from behind to move into positive points with this win over Grimsby. Mark Robins, the manager, said: “The season starts here.” Rotherham fell behind in the 29th minute when Danny Boshell capitalised on a poor clearance but Reuben Reid, Mark Hudson, Micky Cummins and Richie Barker replied after the interval. Robins said: “In the second half we put in a really good performance.” Stuart Watkiss, the Grimsby caretaker manager, said: “The way we fell apart typifies why we find ourselves in the position we are in.”

Wycombe Wanderers 3 Bournemouth 1

Attendance 5,005

Chris Zebroski and Scott McGleish struck in the second half to give Wycombe the points that sent them clear at the top of the table and left Jimmy Quinn, the Bournemouth manager, in an angry mood. Bournemouth had won two on the bounce going into the match, but a strike by Danny Hollands, which had cancelled out Matt Harrold’s opener, was not enough. Quinn said: “I thought the referee made some very poor decisions.” Peter Taylor, the Wycombe manager, said: “I’m pleased for Matt and delighted he has got a goal.”