The Coaching System #Chapter 227: Championship Matchday 13 – Bradford City vs Stoke City (2) - Read The Coaching System Chapter 227: Championship Matchday 13 – Bradford City vs Stoke City (2) Online - All Page

Chapter 227: Championship Matchday 13 – Bradford City vs Stoke City (2)

52' Minute –

It started with space. Not a mistake—just hesitation. Stoke hesitated. Roney didn't.

He picked up the ball thirty yards from goal, wide left, with the full-back squared up and the nearest midfielder caught jogging backwards.

First touch: wide.

Second touch: inside.

Then acceleration. Blinding. He skipped past one. Then two.

The third came across to close—but too late. Roney had already touched it out of his path and opened the window. A tight one. But real.

He struck it from just outside the box—instep, rising.

The keeper didn't move.

But the post did.

The sound was sharp and echoing—metal and rubber and heartbreak. The ball flared away, still spinning.

Seb Hutchinson (commentary):

"That's how fast it changes with Roney. He makes a yard feel like an open road."

Curtis Davies:

"Left peg, top corner... inches. Inches away from goal of the month."

60' Minute – Substitution: Obi on for Richter

Jake stepped up. One glance at Richter, who hadn't had a bad game—just a quiet one.

Obi was already stripped, bouncing on his heels, ready.

Richter jogged off slowly, clapping once toward the crowd. Obi passed him without a word. Just a hand tap. One striker out. One force of movement in.

Curtis Davies:

"When you need chaos—Obi's the one. He doesn't stretch defences. He pulls them apart."

65' Minute –

It didn't look like a goal until the moment the net moved.

Vélez started it—quietly, as he often does. He took a pass under pressure, pirouetted into space, then drifted laterally until he pulled a Stoke midfielder with him.

And then the switch.

Not a long ball. A delayed, disguised loft—chipped with his laces, from left to right, across the top of the box.

Silva met it in the air but didn't shoot. He chested it down and let the ball roll a beat.

Roney was coming again—late run, fast run—just inside the edge of the box.

One touch.

Second touch—shot.

Low. Clean. Across the keeper. Net.

Seb Hutchinson:

"Built with patience. Delivered with precision. And finished with venom."

Curtis Davies:

"Vélez drew three. Silva let it breathe. Roney did what top wide men do—arrive with murder in his boot."

Roney didn't celebrate.

He pointed once to Silva. Then Vélez. Then to the badge.

Bradford 2. Stoke 0. And not a single loose pass in the build-up.

72' Minute –

It was almost too clean.

Stoke finally carved something real—after nearly twenty minutes of static probing. A disguised ball over the top from Laurent caught Bradford's line just a fraction slow. Their striker—Campbell—got in behind. One touch to settle, then a second to square it across the face.

The crowd held its breath.

An onrushing midfielder—Pearson—slid to meet it. Emeka had committed to the near post. The net looked open.

But it wasn't.

Because Barnes was still moving.

He didn't dive. He planted.

A single step. Then a wide-set stance, arms out—and as the ball came across, he threw his full frame in front of it like a man trying to protect a window from a brick.

The ball thudded into his midsection and rebounded out of the six-yard box.

Seb Hutchinson (commentary):

"Barnes on the line—body behind the badge!"

Curtis Davies:

"That's as good as a goal. Maybe better. That's what leaders do."

The crowd roared—not in celebration. In relief. Because that would've changed the game. Barnes made sure it didn't.

80' Minute –

The board went up.

Jake made his move.

Vélez off. Roney off.

In their place: Walsh and Soro.

Not to sit. Not to soak.

To tighten.

Soro dropped immediately into the six pocket, scanning every Stoke advance before it began.

Walsh? High, wide, electric. His first touch was a sprint.

Curtis Davies:

"That's a trust sub. You don't bring Soro and Walsh on to waste time. You bring them on to end it correctly."

Seb Hutchinson:

"And that tells you all you need to know about this Bradford identity under Jake Wilson. The foot never comes off the neck."

89' Minute –

It came from a clearance. Emeka punched a floated cross out wide—clean, high, past halfway.

Obi leapt and challenged. Didn't win it, but forced the Stoke defender into a panicked header.

Soro was already moving. He trapped the loose ball and released it in the same motion—first-time, vertical, down the left channel.

Silva.

Fresh legs? Maybe. But the mind was fresher.

He dragged the ball inward, wrong-footing the last defender with a single outside touch.

Walsh was sprinting the far lane.

Silva never looked.

Backheel.

Into space.

Walsh didn't take a touch. He just wrapped his right foot around it and guided it past the keeper, low and cruel.

3–0.

And the Kop behind that goal roared.

Seb Hutchinson:

"Oh, that is vicious. Silva… Walsh… counter-attack poetry."

Curtis Davies:

"They could've taken it to the corner. They took it to the net."

90+3' Minute – Full-Time: Control. Composure. Three Points.

The whistle didn't spark celebration. It sparked confirmation.

Bradford didn't need to lift their arms. The way they walked said everything—deliberate, unswayed. They had dominated in a way that left no air for drama.

Richter didn't fist-pump. Roney didn't grin. They just gathered. Re-formed.

Silva clapped toward the Kop once—then turned back to midfield. Chapman offered his hand to a Stoke midfielder who never looked up.

And Jake?

Already walking.

Post-Match: Touchline & Tunnel

Sky Sports touchline camera – 3 minutes post-whistle

Jake gave the shortest interview of the season. Calm voice, coat zipped to the neck.

Jake (to Sky):

"We didn't look tired. That's the standard."

No smile. Just a nod. Then he turned toward the tunnel, stopped to say something into Chapman's ear, then walked past the last of the broadcast mics without pause.

Mid-tunnel shot: Silva with Sky Sports interviewer

He's leaning on one leg, jersey still soaked, voice casual.

Silva:

"We're chasing top. That's the only plan."

He gives a short smile. But it's the serious kind—the kind that says this isn't over.

Inside the dressing room, Emeka slaps Cox on the back. Ibáñez throws his boots into his bag without unlacing them. Vélez already has his tablet out, reviewing the midfield spacing from the first half.

Fan Reactions on X (Formerly Twitter)

@BantamBlood

"Vélez is the real conductor. Just vibes and verticals. That's a midfield."

@BacklineBoss

"Chapman's evolving into something scary. He's not playing the game—he's running the clock."

@CityClaret

"Back from Europe. Back to business. #JakeBall doesn't sleep."

@BetweenThePostsEFL

"Bradford's last three matches: 4–0. 3–0. 3–0. They're not just winning. They're writing patterns."

Trending:

#JakeBall

#VélezVision

#CityCleanSheets

#NoTiredLegs

Inside Bradford Tease

[CAMERA: TRAINING GROUND – EARLY SUNDAY SESSION]

Overcast skies. Light drizzle on the turf. Some players warming down, others already into rondos. The tempo isn't flat—it's tight. Like even the recovery work has teeth.

The camera cuts to a side angle.

Jake walks past—hood up, hands in coat pockets.

He passes the lens. Doesn't break stride.

But he drops one line. Measured. Quiet. Just loud enough.

Jake:

"If we're tired, we're not ready."

[CUT TO BLACK]

Overlay text fades in, word by word:

Inside Bradford – Episode 5

Drops Tuesday

Bradford City – 34 pts | P: 13 | W: 11 | D: 1 | L: 1

Ipswich Town – 29 pts | P: 13 | W: 9 | D: 2 | L: 2