To be fair, they might have planned to have done that - but we didn’t let them have the ball.

Unfortunately he appears to be made of glass, so is less reliable than Mr Ayala. However, under Ben Rosen and team, a new fitness regime may benefit him longer term. Dack seems to be befitting from whatever they're doing - leanest he's ever looked (whilst with us anyway).

They both do look genuine talents, Wharton especially. And I couldn't agree more with the 'under TM, we lose this game'. Properly pleased for those young lads (and Dacky) tonight.

Really happy with that, especially in the circumstances. Big performance from some very, very young players. Needed a win and we deserved it.

I've only seen the goals, but I'd be interested to know how Morton got on at CB. Hopefully we kill this one off now, looks as though we've dominated from start to finish - which I expected, with the likes of Dack against League 2 opposition.

It's something like 10 points for a yellow and 20 for a red (I think). So a few bookings needed.

Cheeky quid freebet I had on tonight - didn't have high hopes, but it's already half-in. £500 return. If it comes in, I'll slip him a fiver; I'm not tight.

Really good work by Vale for both goals 👌

Get in.

Good goal as well - come on boys.

Nothing that Pears could do - too easy down the left (Edun) and it was a tap in.

Early in the match, but stats suggest we're absolutely battering them...

In fairness, we're that bare at the back that should Louis get a knock tonight, we'll be calling up the lads who played CB in the Tony Parkes charity match from earlier in the year...

Surely he'd get a work permit? Established senior player, international caps, etc? You'd like to think that we'd not waste our time going in for him if he's unlikely to get a permit...

Still expecting Dack, Markanday, Dolan, Wharton and Vale to be significantly better than anything that League 2 Bradford have. I'll go for a 9-8 win 👀

Morton or Garrett at CB, I'm guessing...?

Whilst the defence does look shit (Annesley being a wildcard), I think the midfield and attack has enough to beat a League 1/2 team. Dack has a point to prove, as does Markanday - and Vale will be desperate to get his first goal of the season. Morton and Wharton in the middle will be streets ahead of whatever Bradford have.

Couple of days ago “We have no money, we’re skint and Venky’s have pulled the plug!” Today “Why are we wasting so much money on JPvH?” Lets just see how the rest of the window pans out before we start jumping up and down. And Gallagher was an initial £2m, just as BBD was £3m-£4m.

I don't necessarily think we'll get the quality we're pursuing, but it's right that we aim for them as opposed to just getting people in for the sake of it. Whether some choose to believe it or not, we were not far from signing Anel and were in the discussion for Davies, both of whom would have been excellent additions. It's right to question progress at this stage, but again, we judge when the window closes and we know how the squad looks.

I'd argue that it's not difficult at all to get players in the door. It is, however, difficult to get the right players through the door. And that's where we're currently at. The question is, at one point do we abandon our main targets and just get bodies through the door? Or do we not do that at all and stick to our plan/guns? Either way, it's unfair to place too much criticism on Broughton until the window has shut and we've concluded our business.

We have spent money so far - up to a few million, if you believe the reported figures. And still a week or so until the window closes, during which time, we are expecting several more additions. Not sure where 'no money' comes into this...?

Kept a clean sheet versus Hartlepool…?

Dack has spent the last 2 seasons out with a couple of major injuries. He might not like the idea, but we have to manage him back to fitness, then ease him back into the team. He’s simply not there yet. If he doesn’t throw his toys out of the pram - and I’m sure he won’t as he seems a good lad - he will get his chance this season. Too many hats of the tin foil variety being worn.

Oh, absolutely - looks a very decent player and I was excited when we brought him in. But he was pretty poor in whatever position he played for us. Seems to be a view that he was always played out of position at Rovers, which really wasn’t the case. He was out of position in some games - right forward was a bizarre move - but he was undoubtedly poor when he was at left back for us.

In fairness, he was still shit in the games he did play at left back.