CITY 0 ROCHDALE 2

DAVID Hopkin had effectively set the agenda when he pleaded to keep a certain topic off it.

The head coach is understandably growing tired at constantly having to field questions related to his chairman.

But it was wishful thinking on his part to hope that a familiar subject would not take centre stage once more as City’s worrying campaign lurched again.

Edin Rahic may have been 770 miles away from Valley Parade on Saturday but that didn’t matter.

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It was his name that rung out from the Kop in the wake of Rochdale’s late penalty double that condemned City to a 10th league loss.

“We want Edin out” had surfaced among a contingent of away fans in the rain at Accrington the week before.

It returned in greater numbers and sung with more gusto at the end of another miserable afternoon where the spectre of a season-long scrap to beat the drop loomed large.

Rahic was back in Germany on a family break for half-term. Or running for cover at City’s time of need, depending on your stance.

But there is no escaping the growing anger from a fanbase who sense their beloved club is falling apart.

And who can blame them? Watching City these days has become a depressing chore.

They can even claim the booby prize for following the league’s worst team of 2018.

Courtesy of previous incumbents Reading’s win over Millwall, City’s tally of just 28 points now ranks as the joint-lowest of the 72 clubs who began the year in the Football League.

So, it’s official - nobody has got it tougher right now than those who trek to Valley Parade.

And there are a growing number who have given up on doing that. The gaps in the stand are beginning to build – and the no-shows are likely to increase tomorrow night against Coventry.

Let’s not forget, City have still won only twice on a Saturday this year – and have just two weekend victories at Valley Parade since the 4-3 thriller against Rochdale last December. What a different world that feels.

There is something very wrong at the club and Rahic is the target. The bitterness against the regime is bubbling up and becoming more vocal.

As one wag mischievously pointed out, approach Valley Parade at night and the sign proclaiming Bradford City has two letters missing. Those not lit up? F and O.

A club that were on the brink of the Championship 17 months ago now appear consigned to a desperate scrabble to avoid leaving League One via the other end.

A 10th loss in 14 saw them drop a further place to second-from-bottom. Plymouth’s ability to twice a blow a lead and still lose at least saved City from the indignity of hitting the basement.

But is that simply delaying the inevitable? Can you see enough fight in those in the claret (and very little amber) to drag themselves out of the mire?

“Another crucial opportunity” wrote Hopkin in his programme notes ahead of this clash with a Rochdale side who had previously leaked more goals than any other.

Could a team who had hit the net just 10 times themselves find a way through a defence whose generosity had extended to 29 against? No, was the answer.

Rochdale have conceded three or more six times this season. But City’s profligacy in front of goal ensured they left with a rare clean sheet, while maintaining their unbeaten record in the “lucky lilac” change kit.

James Mason avoided the pastel colours as he looked on from the Rochdale half of the directors’ box.

But I wonder what the former chief operating officer must have thought when the refrain of “everywhere we go” cascaded from the Kop midway through the second half?

The anthem of that unforgettable FA Cup run that marked his arrival as David Baldwin’s successor sounds sadly out of place in these current desperate times.

It had been replaced by the anti-chairman rhetoric by the time referee Ben Toner called time on a sixth defeat in eight games for Hopkin.

The Scot was trying to put a brave face on this latest setback but ultimately Saturday was all about the result against an opponent that City would have leapfrogged in the table with victory.

He also saw another casualty as Kelvin Mellor had to be carried off with a suspected broken bone in his foot after being caught late by Jordan Williams.

Mellor then suffered the indignity of being dropped by the stretcher bearers as they headed towards the dressing room. It just seemed to sum up the malaise.

City had scored four in each of Rochdale’s last two trips over the Pennines. But four is the total sum of their goals in the last nine league home games.

Maybe it could have been different had they managed to stick away one of the juicy offerings that fell, predominantly, at the feet of George Miller.

He was unfortunate with the sweeping shot that Ian Henderson blocked on the line just before the end of a featureless first half.

Miller was then frustrated by two saves from keeper Brendan Moore – but should not have allowed the American to thwart him again when Jack Payne played him through on goal.

That miss, which was followed by boos from some sections of the audience, sandwiched the two Rochdale penalties that whipped the rug from under City’s feet. Anthony O’Connor also powered a free header over the bar as another would-be equaliser went begging.

Lewis O’Brien had displayed his customary vim and verve in central midfield. But the talented teenager’s day would possess a sting in the tail.

First he was caught in possession on the edge of his own box by the wily Henderson, who drew the foul from the covering O’Connor.

The Rochdale skipper confidently tucked away the spot-kick – and then repeated the trick within two minutes of O’Connor’s miss after Stephen Dooley had latched on to O’Brien’s underhit backpass and was sent tumbling by Richard O’Donnell.

The City keeper had earlier pulled off good saves from Henderson and Matt Done but had no chance with either penalty.

More boos rung out at the final whistle. The Valley Parade experience in 2018 remains a miserable one.