The Voice - Match preview League One Playoff Semi-Final: Bradford City vs Bolton Wanderers Thursday 14th May 2026 8:00pm

I suppose it will come down to who else is available. Remove Baldwin from the side and we're left with a back three of Joe Wright, Tilt and Pennington, none of whom have a fraction of the passing range of Baldwin. Which means that Power will drop even deeper and we'll get overrun in midfield repeatedly.

I might be in the minority but I think that Baldwin has had a decent season and I'd defniitely keep him now we're staying in League One.

 

Oh and can we put the January window to bed, it’s getting repetitive now, people saying the same things over and over again. It’s always a difficult time with a lot of competition and not a lot of player availability. Time to look forward.

 

There must be plenty of availability, we managed to sign seven players.

Just that six are garbage and the other has one good game in four

 

No way were they far better. I agree with both you and Dmitri. They looked better on possession and had that not of class to take there chances up top. I thought their defence looked quite shakey when pressed. I honestly believe they will come straight back down without serious investment.

 

Thought we played quite well, at least no shortage of effort, particularly second half, but individually Bolton had more quality and we really lacked it. Goal was against run of play otherwise I felt we were close to nicking an equaliser after 2 efforts off the bar.

Sad the season is over. Hopefully we can strengthen in the summer and go again but that's for another day.

 

You know what I meant. The best players are hardly going to be available in January.

 

If they can hold onto the two wingers they may be ok but they're the players that have got them to Wembley.

 

We missed a big chance in January to bring in bit of quality and build on the position we were in but for whatever reason it didn't happen and it maybe a long time before we're in that position again.

 

Gutted. Not the result I was hoping for. I know there's not much that can be said to make you guys feel better but your time will come, you're a club that's spent too long in the doldrums/ You've been to the top but stuck loyally in numbers whilst you've been in the lower regions & that's why I respect you. Never giving it Billy big bollocks because of of your size & where you've been, unlike Bolton. You're a championship club at the very least in waiting, size of city, size of support, fully expect to cross swords with you in league 1 next season but I 'd seriously put you in contention for automatic next season, you're a team on the up, had a good season this season, chin up up lads & if my team fails at Wembley I'll look forward to visiting Bradford next season far more than I'd look forward to going to Burnley, Stoke, Wolverhampton, or any of those other championship places of similar ilk. League 1 ain't so bad when you look at it, far more better 'beer days out' than the league above

 

So a great season is over Bolton were better than us and deserve it. We gave it everything in the second half and I know some people will hypercritical. But the fact is we blew a few teams out of the water this season who had much more resources to lean on. The vital thing now is to build on the platform we have built and continue our progression and with the fan base we have I am sure the future is bright the future is Claret & Amber. Chins up.

 

And to give Powell n/a when he forced a great save from their keeper which lead to the (granted rightly) disallowed goal.

Power gave everything he could that second half and was a keepers fingertip away from giving us the lead

 

Northern monkey is on the wind up

 

Baldwin and wright have played their best football here. I can see both staying. I don’t think Pointon will leave. At this moment in time he is a LG1 player and not Championship ready and I don’t see him making a sideways step. Regarding Metcalfe, if he had kept his mid season form up, it would be safe to say he’d be off, but his form has dropped and that might put potential suiters off. Unless his head has been turned by interest which led to his drop off in form

the player I do see leaving is Neufville. I don't know why but I get the impression he’l end up moving to a club down south

 

The handball penalty shout could have been given but probably would've been harsh. I don't remember other penalty shouts to be honest.

Goal was 100% offside but was a good initial save from Powell's header. Second half effort from Jackson which drew a good save from their keeper and was then flagged offside looked level not offside on replay.

Keeper save from power second which he tipped onto to bar was definitely going in, as was the good long range effort from Metcalfe first half.

People can say what they want about being outclassed or whatever and yeah they deserve to go through, but it was close. Their keeper got man of the match, and ours had barely anything to do. They looked a better team but we coped with them, their goal came from an avoidable defensive lapse and was completely against the run of play.

 

Complete rebuild job for next season to compete at the top and bridge the gap properly to the championship. Because these players won't. This season has been unexpected.... AND A FLUKE

 

Unexpected yes, fluke, no. Making a squad of fairly average players compete at the top end of the league for 46 games is down to hard work, spirit and application. Fluke? Shove it

 

Very very proud to be a City fan.
Budget-wise we had no right to finish so high. Some shrewd signings last summer and a few tweaks tactically gave us a fantastic start to the season, but with the lack of quality and depth to the squad, we were always going to get found out. As the teams around us with far greater resources began to find consistency, the fact that we kept up such a great position in the league is testament to Graham Alexander and the brilliant team spirit.
Yes, a poor January window certainly cost us any hope of automatic but I thought that without such a great mental attitude particularly in defence, we could easily have slipped into mid-table mediocrity. The amount of times I remember players utterly busting a gut to prevent shots hitting goal, throwing their bodies on the line for the team, these will be my overriding memories of the second half of this season, not how incredibly predictable and toothless going forward we became.
I never expected us to beat Bolton Wanderers. We all knew what the main problem would be - where the goals were going to come from. But I think over the two legs, tactically, we gave ourselves the best opportunity of progressing, baring in mind the gulf in quality between the two sides going forward and again the limited resources that we do have.
Ultimately my humble opinion is that this has been a great effort from the lads - who from moment go against Wycombe back in August have put every last bit of theirselves into this season. It’s our first year back at this level and every single fan would have taken play offs last summer.
I for one am proud to say I’m
CITY TILL I DIE

 

Reflecting on last night as a non Midland roader, I have to say the decision to move the away fans was ridiculous and did not work at all. They were far too close to our fans and the players which drowned out a lot of our noise.

At least when they're in the corner of Midland Rd and the TL Dallas, they're isolated from the rest of the ground and split up making it harder for them to make an atmosphere. A bad experiment that failed and should not be repeated.