The Voice - Match preview #27: Lincoln City vs Bradford City Tuesday 27th January 2026 7:45pm

This time last year he was our main striker, not the back up.

 

I'm gonna have to pull you up on that Rod, Lincoln played the majority of the game with the ball on the deck and to be fair played some really good stuff. That wasn't crude, it was technically very good, albeit against an utterly woeful side.

 

Lincoln played just like they did at VP. Physical with pace on the break. Unlike at VP where we matched them tonight we were bullied. I lost count of how many duels we lost. Three headers in our box in succession all won by Lincoln. We simply couldn’t cope with them. The same pace and cohesiveness was missing from our play. We look like a team of dry as gets at the moment. It’s a pivotal time. We need fresh impetus. Chanting cooks name in frustration at the lack of a replacement is understandable. Chanting we’ve got the ball we’ve lost the ball isn’t supporting the team though. This isn’t Notts county away. We’re better than that and the players deserve better given what they’ve done season to date. That said it feels the opportunity is slipping through our fingers and we need to click back into gear before it’s too late. We didn’t lay a glove on them. Like Huddersfield. That’s the biggest concern.

 

Did you miss the parts where they passed us to death through the middle?

 

for someone playing for his place....... Leighs challenge for their second goal was abysmal...

 

GA's post match interview was spot on.
Lincoln have built for 6 and a half years to get themselves into the team and position they are today.
We had a Lg2 back 3 and no options from the bench.
A 20 year old in his first full season in Lg1 and our 2 top scorers out injured.

 

Just got back and my earlier hopes were more than dashed.

I've read a number of posts and agree especially with @Bigrod above but my main take was the support tonight, not so much touched upon.
The atmosphere was absolutely terrible in that away end tonight. Very little in favour of our boys, odd song here and there but the ironic chanting (We've got the ball, We've lost the ball) and the booing ( very loud especially at half time) and frustration ( and abuse) levelled at the players was very very noticeable. On a couple of occasions in the second half, Walker shook his head I'm assuming at the anger towards the team.
Clearly confidence amongst the team is low but there was so little unity between the team and fans, that simply will have been heard by the players and management team.
I guess the only positive is Sparks will have took note of the away end

A very depressing night both on and off the pitch.

Massive credit to Lincoln for the tifo. Fantastic effort and fantastic fans before and during the game. Great to see John Helm at the game looking well.

 

https://widthofapost.com/2026/01/27/humiliated-and-humbled-a-bad-night-for-bradford-city-prompts-revision-of-expectations/

Pretty damning report from the usually positive Jason at WOAP.

 

That's actually worrying to hear.

Performances in the past few games have been unacceptable, but there really shouldn't be such a fractious relationship at this stage. I wonder if we'll become a victim of our early success. With a bit of perspective, a short very poor run of form isn't the end of the world, it's just putting it right in a timely manner.

 

That is his and the recruitment teams fault

He has pointon the bench knowing he was injured and wouldn't be utilised.

He started with a back three to of whom hadn't played for about a month.

Our best LCB is playing left wing back because we haven't recruited a proper wing back

The tyreik wright experience failed AGAIN

The Humprys upfront failed again

Introducing kavanagh failed again, although at least he ran.

Plucking Tommy Leigh from obscurity after weeks out, failed again.

The two Newcastle lads, woeful.

He could have had Patterson in midfield, who yes has limitations but would have at least run round and smashed someone if needs be

He could have had a solid right back option in halliday to replace the kid who was leaving the lad unmarked at the back time and time again

He could have had someone with nous upfront who might hold a long ball up or win a free kick who knows.

Nobody appears to know now what is expected of them, no one is on the same wavelength and most importantly in this last month it's seemed like no one gives a damn

 

A couple of other things to pick up on whilst I'm having a rant

Why does January always get a deemed " a difficult month to recruit players" from a Bradford perspective. Other teams seem to manage it better than we do (except Donny)

Us being second wasn't a falacy. Us being second was because we deserved to be there. You can fluke being second in august, but you don't fluke being second in January.

This is what got expectations high, fans expectations weren't unrealistic, we were second for a reason.

The only thing that has changed is going away from the damn things that got us there

 

Summed up perfectly with

It was so, so poor. Alarmingly awful. The Bantams spent the night enacting the infamous Mick McCarthy meme. “It can’t go on like this, can it?” we pondered after Saturday’s Huddersfield Town horror show. “It can!” They somehow plummeted to even greater depths here than what they produced in Kirklees. A new worst performance of the season.

 

He was excellent for us tonight, a very good debut.
Calm, assured, alert …. just what we’ve been missing.

 

It's just frustration at another really poor away performance from most not anger towards the manager.
Hard earned money spent or in my case two days off work to support the team that put in what's deemed as not good enough will naturally bring a negative response.
I was at Mansfield which was bad on New Year's day as were a lot who were there tonight.
Of course your gonna be miffed.
The chant wasn't we've lost the ball anyway, it was 'Sideways and hoofball, everywhere we go' which was spot on.

 

Centre of a back 4??
What he was brought to City to be originally.
Looks awful wide right of a back 3.

 

Tonight was expected for me.
A good performance at home on Saturday will be the tonic we need.

 

We've peaked. Not just for this season, but I'd wager that under this ownership we won't be getting back to the auto spots of L1 mid season, again. We just don't have the finances.