Bradford City boss Mark Hughes reacts to ‘naive’ Dan Oyegoke and 'disappointing' Crawley loss
- Planet Sport writer
- 5 August 2023
Bradford City kicked off the new season with a slender defeat to Crawley Town.
Bradford boss Mark Hughes admitted his game plan went out of the window following "naive" Dan Oyegoke's first-half red card but backed the on-loan defender to learn from the experience.
City slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Crawley after failing to recover from Will Wright's 14th-minute opener and 20-year-old Oyegoke's dismissal before the break.
Oyegoke, on a season-long loan from Brentford, picked up two yellow cards for fouls and was handed his marching orders in the 41st minute as Bradford's season started on a losing note.
Hughes, whose assistant Glyn Hodges and Crawley boss Scott Lindsey were among 13 yellow cards handed out by referee Thomas Parsons, said: "The sending off cost us but Dan is a bright young man and he will learn from it.
"He was a bit naive but the point I made to the referee was that not all fouls are yellow cards
"Our game plan went out of the window; it cost us and we had to re-organise."
Hughes was critical of his side in the manner that they conceded as Wright netted from 25 yards, and admitted: "We needed to get the wall right and we didn't line it up correctly.
"There weren't too many clear-cut chances in the game and all in all it was disappointing."
