The Coaching System-Chapter 186: Championship Matchday 5 (H) vs Hull City 1

Inside the stadium, the chanting started early.

"We are Bradford! We are fire!" echoed down from the Kop, bouncing off the steel rafters and rattling in the lungs of the away support. Flags waved from the corner stands. Kids on shoulders held up signs. Veterans in old kits pounded the barrier railings.

This was Valley Parade.

And today, it belonged to the new blood.

The fourth official checked his watch. The referee stepped into the center circle. The players took their positions.

Jake took a breath and nodded once toward the pitch.

"Let's see what they've got."

Starting XI – 4-2-4 Flexible Shape

GK – Mathew Cox: Making his second league start, calm under pressure.

RB – James Richard: The youngster continues to grow into his role.

CB – Marco Bianchi: Leadership without shouting—clean, tidy, composed.

CB – Kang Min Jae: Commanding in the air. Quick in recovery.

LB – Reece Holloway: Quietly solid. Big engine.

CM – Daniel Lowe: The pivot. Distributor, recycler, enforcer.

CM – Lewis Chapman: Box-to-box. He covered blades of grass others forgot existed.

LW – Rasmussen: Winger with a wand of a left foot.

RW – Ethan Walsh: Still just 17. But reads the final third like a veteran.

ST – Rin Itoshi: Back in the XI. Fast, lethal, ruthless.

ST – Chido Obi: The target. The decoy. The foil.

Formation: 4-2-4, flexible into a 4-4-2 in defense, becoming a 2-4-4 in full press.

First Half –

Commentator (Ian Darke, Sky Sports):

"Well, Bradford may have rotated the squad today, but you wouldn't know it from the opening minutes—they've started like a side that's played together all season."

From the opening whistle, Jake Wilson's reshuffled side came out sharp, their passes crisp and deliberate. Lowe and Chapman controlled the early rhythm, exchanging short, tidy passes in the middle third while the wide men—Walsh and Rasmussen—hugged the touchlines, stretching Hull's defensive shape. It was structured but expressive football.

5th minute –

Chapman spotted Walsh peeling off his marker and floated a measured diagonal that nearly unlocked the right channel. Walsh brought it down with a deft touch before being crowded out near the corner flag. Still, the signal was clear: Bradford weren't easing into this—they were dictating.

7th minute –

Holloway surged forward on the left, overlapping Rasmussen to swing in a teasing low cross. Obi got a toe to it, but the Hull keeper gathered cleanly. A close shave, but it set the tone.

And then it happened.

9' Minute –

It started from something so simple—so brutal.

A loose touch from Hull's defensive midfielder. Chapman was on it like a hawk, snapping into the tackle and winning the ball cleanly. He didn't dawdle—one touch to settle, another to feed it sideways to Lowe.

Lowe lifted his head. He saw it.

The run.

Rin Itoshi, splitting the center-backs with a perfectly timed diagonal burst, was already accelerating.

Commentator:

"Look at that from Lowe—sees it, believes it, delivers it!"

The pass was immaculate. Weighted to perfection, it slid across the turf like it was on rails, dissecting Hull's center-backs before they even realized they'd been breached.

Rin didn't need to break stride.

One touch to steady himself.

Then came the finish—low, fast, and deliberate, swept across the face of the keeper and into the far bottom corner.

Darke (with a rising laugh):

"Well, well, well—he's back. It's Rin Itoshi. A defensive lapse, sure, but the speed at which he capitalized—my word."

Valley Parade exploded into life. Flags waving, scarves swinging, the roar pure and raw. Jake gave a single clap on the touchline, his eyes already scanning the shape behind the goal celebration.

1–0. Bradford had struck first—and they weren't done yet

21' Minute –

Commentator (Ian Darke):

"Oh, that's devastating football. Obi holds it up, Rasmussen plays the decoy—and Rin, again, is the man arriving."

Bradford were in full rhythm now. The ball wasn't just being passed—it was being conducted. There was an ease about it, the kind of tempo only teams with total understanding can summon. Yet under the calm, there was menace. Precision.

It started at the halfway line. Holloway kept it simple, laying a pass inside to Chapman. No theatrics—just a clean touch and a firm ball to Walsh on the right. Walsh took his time, drew his marker, and with a sharp feint to the outside, he sliced inside onto his stronger foot.

One more touch.

Then came the dish—back to Chapman.

Commentator:

"Walsh with a lovely inside step… Chapman's still moving—this is elegant."

Chapman barely looked. He swung it out wide to Rasmussen, who had pulled the left-back into no man's land. The Hull defense reshuffled, unsure whether to push out or collapse inward. That moment of hesitation was all Bradford needed.

Rasmussen didn't delay—he fired a low ball first-time across the face of goal.

Obi was there.

Or so Hull thought.

Obi sold it. He shaped his body like he was about to take it—then stepped over.

Commentator (Michael Owen):

"That's a striker's dummy you dream about—composure, awareness—he knows Rin's behind him!"

And there he was.

Rin Itoshi, arriving from the blindside like a ghost in red and amber, didn't even wait for the ball to bounce. He let it come across his body, then smashed it with his right foot—pure contact, rising fast.

The net bulged top side before the Hull keeper had time to flinch.

Ian Darke (gasping):

"Oh my God… what a wonderful goal. A wonderkid. And he's just 18!"

No wild roar this time. No chaos.

Valley Parade purred.

The way a crowd reacts when it understands brilliance. The way a theatre applauds a violin solo.

They saw the layers. They saw the decoy. They saw the calmness, the intelligence, the finish. It was football at its most composed—and most ruthless.

Rin didn't over-celebrate. He just turned back toward the halfway line, calm and clinical, as teammates mobbed him. He was in the zone.

Jake Wilson gave a single nod from the sideline.

Commentator:

"They saw the vision. They saw the control. They saw the future—wearing number 9."

Bradford 2–0 Hull.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

And Hull looked shaken.