The Voice - Match preview #22: Bradford City vs Port Vale Monday 29th December 2025 7.45pm

EFL League One Fixture #22
Monday 29th December 2025 19:45
Bradford City (3rd) vs Port Vale (24th)
University of Bradford Stadium

Record:
Games Won: 46
Games Drawn: 32
Games Lost: 36

Last 5:
24 Apr 2021: Port Vale 2 – 1 Bradford City
13 Nov 2021: Port Vale 1 – 1 Bradford City
19 Mar 2022: Bradford City 1 – 2 Port Vale
26 Dec 2024: Bradford City 2 – 1 Port Vale
01 Apr 2025: Port Vale 2 – 0 Bradford City

Port Vale:
Port Vale sit bottom of the League One table, 7 points adrift of Doncaster Rovers and 10 points from safety. Port Vale are the lowest scorers in the league with a paltry return of 13, and while their goals conceded tally (29) remains healthier than relegation rivals Doncaster Rovers (36) and Plymouth Argyle (37), for example, Boxing Day’s 5-0 hammering at the hands of Huddersfield Town will have done nothing for either Vale’s morale or sense of momentum.

Peculiarly, Port Vale’s campaign doesn’t look all that bad on paper if you factor in the cups – Vale remain involved in both the FA Cup and the EFL Trophy, whilst they also made it to the EFL Cup third round where they earned a plumb home tie against Arsenal earlier this season, dispatching both Blackpool and Birmingham City en route. In fact, the cups account for 7 of Port Vale’s 10 total wins so far this season, despite having played only 9 cup games! If only Darren Moore could bottle that success in football’s other formats and parlay them into the league – alas, the former Bradford City legend has been entirely unable to do so.

Also rather peculiarly, Port Vale’s only 3 league wins of the season all came consecutively during September. Prior to that, Vale failed to win any of their 7 opening league fixtures, whilst similarly failing to win any of their subsequent 11 league games either. To their credit, Vale have kept most of their defeats in the league this season to single goal margins, although more recently there are signs things are worsening for the Stoke-on-Trent based side. Late October saw Port Vale dispatched 3-0 on home soil by Stockport County, while Bolton Wanderers put them to the sword 4-0 in early November. Now, with Huddersfield Town having inflicted their heaviest defeat of the season with that 5-0 Boxing Day hammering, it’s becoming difficult to see how Vale can lift themselves out of their slump.

2 points from their last 9 games is a nightmare run of form, and while Vale did surprise Luton Town with a 2-2 away draw, Vale’s propensity to lose 1-0 has gifted all of Wigan Athletic, Plymouth Argyle, Lincoln City, and Peterborough United 3 point hauls since they last won a league game. Now, Darren Moore – affectionately known on the Valley Parade terraces as ‘Bruno’ – has to try and pick up the pieces after some ‘silly’ defending saw City’s West Yorkshire rivals cruise to the easiest of victories on Friday afternoon.

‘Silly’ defending is a major cause for concern, but as is the sheer lack of goals in this Port Vale squad. Ex-Bradford City striker Devante Cole leads the charge with 5 league goals to his credit, but only Ryan Croasdale (2) has managed more than 1. Lorent Tolaj’s departure for relegation rivals Plymouth Argyle (now sitting outside the drop zone) looks to have been a truly historic blunder on Vale’s part, Tolaj now boasting 10 league goals for his new side – as well as the 1 he scored early doors for Vale this campaign at home to Stevenage.

While Argyle rewarded Vale with close to 7 figures for the Swiss forward, the move seems to have completely hobbled the Valiants, with relegation becoming an ever-more likely danger week-on-week. Darren Moore, meanwhile, feels to be on borrowed time despite promotion success last term, or else the pressure could build on the ‘higher ups’ at Vale Park.

Huddersfield Town 5 – 0 Port Vale
[EFL’s Extended Highlights, as neither side appears to have uploaded their own short highlights]

Port Vale 0 – 1 Peterborough United


Bradford City:
Bradford City emerged victorious against an ill-disciplined Wigan Athletic side who did themselves no favours on the day or indeed in terms of suspensions ahead of future performances after having two men sent off. In truth, Wigan can have no complaints, despite running the Bantams close with a display full of harrying, hassling, and ill-timed challenges. Bobby Pointon was the recipient of the first poor challenge, leaving him with a bloodied left boot following a tackle that could have easily resulted in the first red of the day, but lenient refereeing from Seb Stockbridge allowed Jensen Weir a second chance. Weir, ultimately, chose not to take full advantage, as another poor foul on Ibou Touray on the 70th minute saw him dispatched for an early shower with the score locked at 1-1 – while Matt Smith followed with a stinker of a challenge on Jenson Metcalfe (who, along with Pointon, seemed to take the brunt of Wigan’s poorest fouls).

Still, it took a 90th minute header from Joe Wright to sent Wigan home with their tails tucked between their legs, with the packed Valley Parade crowd having seen Callum Wright cancel out Stephen Humphrys’ 45th minute effort against his former side. Not the most convincing for the Bantams, but they were on top for the vast majority of the second half, and their stranglehold on the game perhaps dysregulated an off-colour Latics side.

City will now move on to bottom side Port Vale, and though both the table and form book would point to a home ‘banker’, the Bantams have had to work diligently for their recent wins. 4 victories in their last 5 games is superb stuff for the promotion-chasing underdogs, but free-scoring City are not. 1-0 wins over Exeter City (H) and Plymouth Argyle (A) will more than suffice, of course, as will the late winner against 9-man Wigan Athletic, but in terms of punishing struggling sides, that just hasn’t been a factor since Graham Alexander took charge of the Bantams. That’s not the criticism it might seem on paper; City are a thoroughly professional outfit at present, extremely capable of seeing tight games out or even winning late on, but hopes of a repeat of Huddersfield Town’s 5-0 thrashing of Vale? Well, the formbook does not indicate such an occurrence is on the cards.

Stephen Humphrys, though, is beginning to look the part of a ‘real’ number 9, netting a very tidy opener against Wigan to follow up on his successful effort in the 2-1 defeat at Leyton Orient last Saturday. His tricks and flicks were on full display as his tail was up in the second half against Wigan, though it was left to defender Joe Wright to flick in a Max Power cross to grab all 3 points in the closing stages of the game. Humphrys, who appears to be something of a confidence player, will now look to build on that against an out-of-sorts Port Vale who look lost-at-sea and primed for relegation back to League Two.

Whether he will be flanked by Bobby Pointon is less certain; the left-sided attacking midfielder’s wounded foot will need to be monitored closer to the time, but the club’s other joint top scorer Antoni Sarcevic seemed to come out of the game unscathed. Jenson Metcalfe, in midfield, seems to be benefitting from a run of games alongside the excellent and tactically astute captain Max Power, while Ciaran Kelly and Joe Wright played well on Boxing Day.

One weakness in the City performance against Wigan was the poor ratio of completed long and diagonal passes, as well as an overall poor first half. To illustrate, Ciaran Kelly completed just 1 of 12 attempted long passes, Joe Wright completed 2 of 9, while Baldwin eventually came out with a tally of 8 completed long balls in 14 attempts – after a particularly poor start for him personally, it must be said. While City ultimately proved to have the ability on the ball to cause Wigan to self-implode, the Bantams haven’t felt to be at their creative best since late September – while winning, their feels to be real room for improvement.

Bradford City 2 – 1 Wigan Athletic


Leyton Orient 2 – 1 Bradford City

 

Prediction:
Huddersfield Town seemed to have the freedom of the Accu Stadium as they punished an extremely poor Port Vale with a bruising 5-0 victory on home soil. As yet, there have been no suggestions of a change in the Vale dugout, so ex-Bantam legend Darren Moore looks set to lead the Valiants on another tough visit to West Yorkshire when they visit Valley Parade on Monday evening. Bradford City, meanwhile, continued their excellent home record under Graham Alexander with a 2-1 win over a rather agricultural Wigan Athletic side on Boxing Day afternoon.

While all omens point to a home win for the Bantams, and while that ultimately will be the pick here, there are a couple of points to make for those expected a repeat of Huddersfield Town’s demolition job on Boxing Day afternoon… City are not scoring at anything like the same rate as Town of late (Town had scored 17 goals in their previous 8 league games prior to the 5-0 win, City have scored just 8 in 8), and as Port Vale fans will demand an immediate response from their players, it’s worth noting that Vale have a better-than-expected xG of 1.38 per game – putting them 11th in that particular table. While xG is only really useful if it actually converts to the expected number of goals, which Port Vale’s patently doesn’t (they have scored fewer than half of the expected goals created), it does indicate there is potential for an upswing. Keep in mind that Port Vale’s previous away game saw them grab a creditable 2-2 draw at Luton Town, Ben Waine and Devante Cole both scoring, two of Vale’s most potent attacking outlets (Waine in particular when cup performances are factored in).

So a 4-0, 5-0 win on Monday evening? Not for me. City can, and probably should, win this match, but the margins are trending to be far tighter than that. City have scored 3 on a couple of occasions, but not since September when they chalked up back-to-back 3-1 wins over Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town. While it’s true that Vale could head to Valley Parade entirely demoralised and a shell of the side has done so well in the cups and kept several league outfits honest this campaign, City’s players and fans should not rest on their laurels.

The pick will be a 2-0 win that will be closer in many respects than some would hope or even enjoy! Keeping Humphrys’ goals ticking over will be a huge bonus.

Final Score:
Bradford City 2 – 0 Port Vale