Bradford receive Russian roasting

Bradford were taught a harsh European footballing lesson in their latest Intertoto Cup adventure but at least their Uefa Cup dream remains alive.

Bradford were taught a harsh European footballing lesson in their latest Intertoto Cup adventure but at least their Uefa Cup dream remains alive.

In the beautiful Russian city of St Petersburg their hopes of reaching the first round of the competition was nearly sunk without trace in yesterday's semi-final first leg. Bradford were forced into rear-guard action from virtually the first whistle to the last.

"I don't like getting beat, but to be honest we could have easily been beaten resoundingly," said the Bradford manager, Chris Hutchings

Zenit clearly held the advantage, looking every inch a side in the middle of their season, currently lying in seventh after 17 matches in the Russian league.

Bradford, with just a month of pre-season behind them, and having played and won four relatively comfortable matches, had no answer to Zenit's pace and strength, particularly during a one-sided first half.

Bradford's three-man defence, with Hutchings employing an attacking wing-back system, was stretched to the limit.

Without the inspiring presence of the central defender David Wetherall, out with an ankle ligament injury sustained in Saturday's 1-0 win at Waalwijk, the visitors were always struggling.

Inside the opening minute the lively Yevgeniy Tarassov came close with an 18-yard shot on the turn, which would have been on target but for a slight deflection into the sidenetting.

It immediately lifted the fiercely partisan home crowd, with the 18,500 Russian support outnumbering the Bradford fans by around 1,200 to one.

Zenit employed the wingers Sergei Osipov and Aleksandre Spivak to great effect as both made penetrating runs into the space behind Lee Sharpe and Ian Nolan.

When the goal came in the 16th minute it was no great surprise, with the dangerous Andrei Kobelev - operating just behind the front two - beating Aidan Davison with the first of what proved to be a series of stunning drives.

The ball smacked against the post and Tarassov was on hand for the rebound to sidefoot home a simple chances from 12 yards.

With Bradford pinned in their own half, Aleksei Igonine just shaved the bar with a dipping, swerving shot which had Davison back-pedalling. Then within the space of a minute Kobelev was twice denied by the woodwork. In the 31st minute he dispossessed David Hopkin just outside the box before thundering in another 20-yard drive. Davison was again beaten and rooted to the spot, but the ball spun off the inside of the right-hand post and across the goal line.

Kobelev followed that with his best effort of the half, a 25-yard half volley cannoning off the bar. "I was happy to go in at the break only one goal down because it could have been three or four," said Hutchings. "We allowed them far too much space, while they pinned us in and we couldn't get out of our own half."

Zenit continued to enjoy territorial and possessional advantage in the second half, albeit without creating the chances. Indeed, the best chances of the half belonged to Bradford, with the first coming in the 71st minute when Stuart McCall put Lee Mills in the clear.

With only the goalkeeper Viacheslav Malafeev to beat, Mills drilled in a left-foot drive which forced a superb save out of the 21-year-old. Malafeev again came to his side's rescue in injury time by turning away a snap shot from Dean Windass, which proved to be the last kick of a match.

Zenit St Petersburg: Malafeev; Zvetkov, Katulsky, Nedorezov, Osipov, Gorchkov (Gorovoy, 76), Igonine, Spivak, Kobelev (Ugarov, 67), Popovich, Tarassov.

Bradford City: Davison; O'Brien, Atherton, Myers, Nolan, Hopkin (Whalley, 86), McCall, Windass, Sharpe, Mills, Saunders.

Referee: B Coue (Fr).