The Voice - Match preview #2: Northampton Town vs Bradford City Saturday 9th August 2025 3:00pm

EFL League One Fixture #2
Saturday 9th August 2025 15:00
Northampton Town (20th) vs Bradford City (7th)
Sixfields Stadium

Record:
Games Won: 23
Games Drawn: 7
Games Lost: 8

Last 5:
07 Sep 2019: Bradford City 2 – 1 Northampton Town
20 Nov 2021: Bradford City 1 – 1 Northampton Town
09 Apr 2022: Northampton Town 0 – 0 Bradford City
19 Nov 2022: Bradford City 1 – 3 Northampton Town
29 Apr 2023: Northampton Town 1 – 2 Bradford City

Northampton Town:
Northampton Town finished the 24/25 season in 19th place in League One, 5 points above the drop zone, having compiled 12 wins, 15 draws and 19 defeats. The Cobblers endured a poor first half of the campaign, a fact that would cost manager Jon Brady his job on 5th December. Northampton Town sat in the relegation zone at that point and initially brought in Ian Sampson in interim charge before the arrival of former Newcastle United and West Ham United midfielder Kevin Nolan 2 days before Christmas.

While Nolan did successfully steer Northampton Town away from the drop zone, his primary goal, his overall record of 7 wins, 9 draws and 10 defeats to date suggests Northampton’s improvement has been incremental at best. The former Leyton Orient and Notts County gaffer has also served as first team coach at West Ham United and assistant head coach (albeit briefly) of England U20 – but this looks to be his biggest challenge yet.

The new season hardly started with a flourish. New midfielder Dean Campbell said after Northampton Town’s 3-1 defeat away at Wigan Athletic that Nolan “wouldn’t let them get away with another performance like that”, pointing to the poor defending at corners and set pieces as a real issue. In truth, the first goal Northampton Town conceded came from a deep corner from open play, met on the volley by an unmarked Fraser Murray. Murray then almost doubled his tally with a curling free kick from just outside the area, before Jenson Weir actually did make it 2-0 from a corner. For Wigan’s third, Murray cut in from the wing and saw his low curling effort deflected, and even though defender Michael Forbes made it 3-1 from a corner to cut the arrears, Wigan could have more. Substitute Isaac Mabaya, a Liverpool player coming off the bench for his Latics debut, crossed the ball for former City forward Dara Costelloe to fluff his lines from a matter of yards. Newcomer Tyrese Fornah would force a late save from the Wigan keeper Sam Tickle with a powerful drive, but the score would remain 3-1 to the home side.

The disappointing aspect of this defeat has to be that Wigan Athletic finished just 15th place last season, only 5 points above Northampton Town, but looked to have made much the better improvements over the Summer.

Still, with several new faces coming in, Northampton Town may gel in time. Dean Campbell joining from Barrow could prove an astute signing as a player with several admirers last campaign, while 21 year old midfielder Jack Perkins from Nottingham Forest was the only player that attracted a fee. Right back Jack Burrows joined from Coventry City, Elliott List joined from Stevenage, Conor McCarthy signed from Barnsley, with the aforementioned Tyrese Fornah arriving from Derby County. All 6 featured either in the starting line up or coming off the substitutes’ bench along with loanees Jordan Thorniley (Oxford United), Michael Forbes (West Ham United) and Ethan Wheatley (Manchester United), though the likes of veteran Michael Jacobs and youngsters Kamarai Swyer and goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimmons have yet to appear. All in all, 9 new faces, then, among a total of 15 players used on game day #1 – not an easy starting point for any club.

Perhaps now, then, will be a good time for the Bantams to head to Sixfields Stadium, particularly given the Cobblers were nothing spectacular on home soil last season. With 7 wins, 7 draws and 9 defeats, Northampton Town scored 24 goals in 23 league games (third lowest goalscorers in the division with home advantage), placing 19th in the ‘Home’ league table.

Wigan Athletic 3 – 1 Northampton Town


Bradford City:
Bradford City continued their excellent home form under Graham Alexander with an impressive opening day win over last season’s playoff contenders Wycombe Wanderers. City’s fast start saw them 2-0 up after just 13 minutes, Antoni Sarcevic picking up right where he left off last campaign with a 6th minute header, and Bobby Pointon netting with a pinpoint low drive after some good work by several City players. Josh Neufville was the man of the match in a scintillating display that saw the pacy new boy deliver one of the most creative crosses seen at Valley Parade in many a year (be sure to check out the highlights below), while also tidying up defensively to boot. Max Power and Tommy Leigh both had a solid game in midfield, and Ibou Touray on the left flank also looked capable of getting up and down the line. Humphrys played his part with a hardworking debut effort up front, while there were no serious complaints about any of the back 3, or Sam Walker in the City goal.

A good day’s work? Most definitely.

That Wycombe Wanderers came on strong in the second half could be no surprise, and when Daniel Udoh scored with a tidy finish, nerves could have been well and truly frayed – but League One new boys Bradford City absorbed much of Wanderers’ pressure well. A penalty appeal for a handball by Joe Wright did look to have merit, but was not awarded by referee Seb Stockbridge, and Mike Dodds’ indifferent record as Wycombe manager continued into the new campaign.

Now comes what seems to have been an age old problem for Graham Alexander’s Bantams – an away day. While Bradford City continued to excel on their happiest of hunting grounds, the hallowed turf of the University of Bradford Stadium, where they were the best team in the division by a full 5 points last season, City were a decidedly mediocre prospect on the road. Just 5 wins from 23 league away days is poor, and it became hard to overstate the glaring discrepancy between playing at home and playing away for much of last season. 39 goals scored and just 13 conceded at Valley Parade compared to 25 scored and 32 conceded away from home makes for a stark, stark contrast.

Whatever the issue was, Bradford City fans must hope Graham Alexander and Chris Lucketti have stumbled upon a better formula for the new season!

Heading to Northamptonshire will give us a good indication of whether that dismal away form will continue in 25/26. If it does, there’s little question it will hamstring the club’s ambitions, but if there really is some form of tonic, Bradford City might just be very, very competitive indeed… Time will tell!

Bradford City 2 – 1 Wycombe Wanderers


Prediction:
The last time Bradford City won away from home is now over five months ago on 1st March 2025 when a last minute Michael Mellon goal sank Salford City, the Bantams running out 2-1 winners. While Bradford City did show some signs of quality away from home in the closing games, bizarre capitulations at the likes of Swindon Town (5-4) and Chesterfield (3-3) almost put paid to City’s promotion ambitions – the away day funk was that serious.

As it was, though, Bradford City did go up – just about! – pipping early league leaders Walsall to the post for the 3rd and final automatic promotion spot with a final day victory over Fleetwood Town with a 90+6 minute winner. All common knowledge by now, of course, but what’s not yet certain is how Bradford City can right the many wrongs that dogged them on so many away days. Looking at Northampton Town and seeing a side who were, realistically, below average at home (and in general) last season, this is ordinarily a game where City fans would look for a 3-point haul, but will this City side be haunted by some of those less-than-stellar efforts from last campaign? With both sides sporting new-look XI’s, it’s true that there are now multiple Bantams’ new boys and multiple fledgling Cobblers to whom last season’s failures are no doubt irrelevant. It’s a new day, and a clean slate for many.

On that basis, the opening day efforts from the two sides looked worlds apart. Bradford City arguably exceeded expectations (certainly for this writer), while Northampton Town can scarcely fail to be disappointed by their 3-1 defeat against another bottom half side from last season. Northampton will demand a reaction from themselves, but will that be enough to stop a side riding the crest of a wave?

Well, I think so. Just about. A draw will be the pick for the second week running this time predicated on very different reasoning. A win in Northamptonshire would be great reason to boost expectations, but until that away day win is secured, the hoodoo remains intact.

1-1.

Final Score:
Northampton Town 1 – 1 Bradford City