The Voice - Match preview #34: Reading vs Bradford City Saturday 28th February 2026 3:00pm

EFL League One Fixture #34
Saturday 28th February 2026 15:00
Reading (7th) vs Bradford City (4th)
Select Car Leasing Stadium (AKA The Madejski Stadium)

Record:
Games Won: 23
Games Drawn: 19
Games Lost: 19

Last 5:
04 Oct 2003: Reading 2 – 2 Bradford City
10 Apr 2004: Bradford City 2 – 1 Reading
07 Mar 2015: Bradford City 0 – 0 Reading [FA Cup]
16 Mar 2015: Reading 3 – 0 Bradford City [FA Cup]
13 Dec 2025: Bradford City 2 – 0 Reading

Reading:
Reading find themselves sat in 7th place, 4 points outside the playoffs, and leading a peloton that involves sides such as Stevenage, Wycombe Wanderers, Luton Town, Plymouth Argyle and Peterborough United, with only 3 points between those 6 sides sat between 7th and 12th place. These are the clubs looking most likely to topple one of the top 6, with Huddersfield Town currently the stragglers and the most likely team to drop out of the promotion spots.

It’s all to play for, then, but Reading and company still have quite a bit of making up to do. 4 points behind the Terriers but with a game in hand, Reading can’t afford many more hiccups in their final 13 games – especially considering there is a further gap to 5th, where Stockport County sit 8 points clear of the chasing pack, while Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City are a full 10 points clear.

That said, beating the Bantams on home soil, and considering City’s woeful away record of late, Reading could quickly cut that down to 7 points, at which point Graham Alexander and his men will be looking over their shoulders hoping none of the teams below make a concerted charge. Things can change quickly in football, and a run of 4 or 5 straight wins for any team can alter the dynamic of the table in an instant.

For their part, Reading have proven themselves very hard to beat at the Madejski Stadium this season, losing just 3 league fixtures. Their propensity to draw, however, has stunted their promotion charge considerably, having tied no fewer than 6 home games so far – as well as a further 6 on their travels.

That gives Reading the second highest number of draws this season, behind only Bolton Wanderers (13). That Reading have drawn their last 2 games has cost them the chance to close the gap on the playoff sides, with a 1-1 draw at Port Vale last weekend a particularly disappointing outcome. Martin Sherif grabbed a last minute leveller for the home side, a goal that denied Leam Richardson’s men the chance to cut their deficit on Huddersfield Town to just 2 points. Richardson declared himself “devastated” after the game, as well he might be.

The conditions at Port Vale were nothing short of awful, the division’s bottom club’s pitch about as miserable as their league form this season. And to compound Reading’s misery, it was the second time in a week that Reading had conceded a 90th minute equaliser, with Bolton Wanderers doing the same at the Madejski the previous Tuesday evening. Mason Burstow on that occasion cancelling out Jack Marriott’s opener.

Reading will not want to have to endure the same again against Bradford City, especially as those two late levellers were all that had stopped the Royals making it 5 wins from their past 6 league outings.

The aforementioned Jack Marriott is the division’s second highest scorer with a full 16 goals, while Lewis Wing (9) is also having a memorable season. They will most likely be the two danger men on Saturday afternoon, with only Kamari Doyle, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, and Daniel Kyerewaa having managed more than 2 goals this season – each contributing 3 times. Still, while the same names seem to appear on the scoresheet most weeks for Reading, that is not indicative of a goalscoring problem. Reading have contributed 6 more goals this campaign than Bradford City have managed, though they have conceded a similar excess of goals at the other end, too. That speaks to a side that do have defensive deficiencies, which is something Leam Richardson will have to look at going forward. It also suggests that late levellers might not be as unexpected as they first appeared.

Reading will be expecting a win here, however. The Royals have lost only 2 of their last 14 league fixtures, and will still be confident of making up the gap on the top 6 in time. The focus on Saturday will most likely be on putting Bradford City away should they take the lead and given how brittle City’s defence has looked on the road of late, they should have every confidence in doing so – but the pressure is on them to avoid dropping further points.

Port Vale 1 – 1 Reading


Reading 1 – 1 Bolton Wanderers


Bradford City:
The home side has won the last 8 times Bradford City have played, as well as in 13 of the last 15 games. The only two results that have bucked the trend come in consecutive outings, with City winning 2-1 away at Blackpool before losing 2-1 at home to Cardiff City. That’s an astonishing statistic for a side that are well entrenched in the playoff places, suggesting this polarity in terms of home and away could be enough to guarantee the Bantams a top 6 spot. That would represent a monumental achievement for Graham Alexander’s side, even if it does make away games a predictable slog.

What that also means is that it’s been a long time since this Bradford City side have drawn a game. To say City were, at one point, considered draw specialists with 5 draws from 6 league games through October and most of November, the Bantams have really turned the corner on that narrative. Can they now do the same with this home-and-away dichotomy?

Perhaps not, at least not on current form. Last weekend’s dismal effort at AFC Wimbledon was followed up by yet another home win and another clean sheet at Valley Parade, with a hapless Rotherham United side failing to muster a single shot on target. While Rotherham United looked every inch the relegation candidates their league position suggests, the game did still speak to a nagging doubt about City’s lack of firepower. Despite the excellent home form, Bradford City have scored just once in 5 of their last 6 games at the University of Bradford Stadium, with 1-0 becoming an all-too-familiar outcome – regardless of the calibre of the opposition!

While failing to build on their early 1-0 lead against Rotherham United is a concern, particularly given Graham Alexander gave 3 different strikers run outs in the centre forward position, some degree of comfort can also be drawn for the feeling of predictability (almost inevitability) about the eventual outcome of that game. It was 3 points in the bag, and in truth, 3 points City didn’t seem to have to fight too hard for. This had all the hallmarks of a preseason friendly, and the onus there lies more heavily with the Millers than it does with Bradford City.

There is a concern that Kayden Jackson went off and will require a scan, and it’s likely he will now miss this weekend’s trip to Reading at a time where a trip to any opponent feels a little daunting. Reading, for their part, are not just ‘any’ opponent, either. Sitting 7th in the League One table, the Royals will have intentions of chasing down Graham Alexander’s men (although Huddersfield Town will be the immediate objective), even if City’s advantage in the league table amounts to a full 10 points. Room to breathe, then, but there’s still no place for complacency.

Whoever starts up front for City must show a legitimate goal threat, and at the same time, Graham Alexander must get his selection right. There is scrutiny on this, which might seem surprising given City’s excellent league position, but there is a sense that the Bantams are dropping points at an alarming rate away from home, and that some of the performances aren’t helped by constant chopping and changing. Intrigue on this one won’t start on the referee’s whistle, it will begin earlier: it will surround the announcement of the starting lineup.

Bradford City 1 – 0 Rotherham United


AFC Wimbledon 3 – 1 Bradford City

 

Prediction:
Neither team will want to lose what is, in effect, a 6-pointer.

That’s a phrase normally reserved for games where two teams are extremely close together, and while the 10-point lead Bradford City hold over Reading will temper the damage, it’s still an opportunity for either side to win and deprive the other team of 3 invaluable points.

If Bradford City are victorious, that will be a hammer blow to Reading’s playoff hopes. The gap between the two sides will be whopping 13 points, an almost insurmountable-sounding advantage. A draw would suit City more, what with the Bantams thereby maintaining their 10 point advantage (though teams like Stevenage could cut the gap), with Reading also ruing 3 straight ties, 2 of them coming via 90th minute equalisers as outlined above. Really, then, the only ‘good’ outcome for Reading is a win.

All eyes will be on Jack Marriott, who has scored 4 goals in Reading’s last 2 home games, including a hattrick in the 3-2 win over another potential playoff rival in Wycombe Wanderers. If the former Wrexham and Peterborough United striker can display some of his best form, he will be a huge handful for a Bantams backline that has been almost immaculate at home with 5 clean sheets from their last 6 games at Valley Parade, but hopeless on the road. 8 goals shipped in their last 3 away games is nowhere near the standard Bradford City fans have come to expect and it now means they’ve got a worse defensive record on the road than the team sat very bottom of the ‘Away’ league table, Rotherham United, who have conceded 23.

At the other end of the pitch, Bradford City fans will be waiting with baited breath to see who Graham Alexander will field after that early injury to Kayden Jackson last time out. Paul Mullin had a promising cameo in his City debut, but he has been unable to hold any influence in recent away games where the Bantams have rarely even found the opposition penalty area, much less the goal. In some sense, it wouldn’t matter who Graham Alexander fielded in games like that at Huddersfield Town, Lincoln City or AFC Wimbledon such was the sheer ineffectiveness of the team as a whole, and that’s something that cannot be easily overlooked here.

While there was a glimmer of hope in the 2-1 away win over a mediocre Blackpool, going to Reading and getting a win against a side that have two of the division’s top 15 goalscorers would definitely go against the formbook. A draw, however, is distinctly more possible, especially given Reading’s shaky defensive stats and recent tendency to conceded late goals.

1-1 would be a decent pick, but I will opt for a 2-1 home win for Reading, one that shouldn’t require fans pushing the panic button – but will pile additional pressure on coming away days at bottom 4 sides Port Vale and Wigan Athletic that the Bantams really should have designs on winning.

Final Score:
Reading 2 – 1 Bradford City