The Voice - Match preview Stevenage vs Bradford City Saturday 11th February @ 3:00pm

League Two Fixture #28

Saturday 11th February 2023 15:00
Stevenage (2nd) vs Bradford City (9th)
Lamex Stadium

Most Recent Results:

1: Bradford City 3 – 2 Salford City
2: Bradford City 1 – 2 Rochdale
3: AFC Wimbledon 0 – 0 Bradford City
4: Stockport County 0 – 0 Bradford City
5: Bradford City 1 – 1 Mansfield Town

Form: DDDLW

1: Stevenage 3 – 1 Crawley Town
2: Stevenage 1 – 0 Gillingham
3: Harrogate Town 1 – 1 Stevenage
4: Stevenage 3 – 0 Leyton Orient
5: Sutton United 0 – 0 Stevenage

Form: DWDWW

Head-to-Head Results:

Head-to-Head Form: WWWDW

26 Sep 2020: Bradford City 2 – 1 Stevenage
05 Apr 2021: Stevenage 1 – 1 Bradford City
17 Aug 2021: Bradford City 4 – 1 Stevenage
08 Feb 2022: Stevenage 0 – 1 Bradford City
17 Sep 2022: Bradford City 3 – 0 Stevenage

Head-to-Head Results (All Time):

Won: 7
Drawn: 2
Lost: 2

Biggest Margin of Victory:

17 Aug 2021: Bradford City 4 – 1 Stevenage
17 Sep 2021: Bradford City 3 – 0 Stevenage

NEW FEATURE!

For Better or Worse:
First Half of the Season vs Second Half of the Season Analysis

Harrogate Town: WIN followed by WIN - Equal
Salford City: WIN followed by WIN – Equal
AFC Wimbledon: DRAW followed by DRAW – Equal
Stockport County: DEFEAT followed by DRAW – Improvement
Mansfield Town: WIN followed by DRAW - Regression
Stevenage: WIN followed by ???

Results so far: The second half of the season has seen a regression by 1 point



Stevenage 2022/23:
Steve Evans' Stevenage boast the best home record in League Two, and appear en route to League One

With 12 wins, 1 draw and just 1 defeat at home in the league this season, Stevenage certainly hold dominion at the Lamex. It's easy to see why some will be casting an envious eye towards the Hertfordshire fortress that Steve Evans has defended so well, an achievement which underlines the age old adage that 'if you win your home games, you will go up'.

Stevenage may not nearly be as good on the road (not only evidenced by their 3-0 hammering at Valley Parade, but also the fact they have won just 4 of 13 away league fixtures), but it matters little to the League Two table proper. Stevenage sit second, with multiple games in hand on most of those around them – and enough 'potential' points to overtake long time leaders Leyton Orient, who they hammered 3-0 in late January.

An impressive series of cup performances, too, have been the envy of other League Two clubs. Though recently eliminated from the FA Cup by Stoke City, Stevenage have amassed an impressive résumé in knock out competitions this season. Reading, Peterborough United (twice), Wycombe Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur U21's, Arsenal U21's, and even Aston Villa have all been bested by one of the EFL's most improved sides.

It's strange to nit pick, then, the fact that Stevenage have only won one of their last 4 games in all competitions. That win was a headline-grabbing dismantling of title challenging rivals Leyton Orient, but more sobering have been the draws at Harrogate Town and Sutton United – evidence of a continued lack of ruthlessness on the road.

Too bad Bradford City will be travelling to the Lamex, then, where Stevenage have rattled off 5 wins in their last 6 home league games, drawing the other. It's not down to the fact Stevenage dominate possession, as they don't. Stevenage's possession stats have hovered around the 50 % mark for some time at the Lamex, even dipping into the mid 40's in their 3-1 win over Crawley Town. A 5-0 win over Barrow back in early December somehow occurred despite Stevenage only having 4 shots on target... a penalty, and a late own goal evidencing just how clinical Stevenage are at home.

If those kinds of results conjure images of a rampant home side clocking up double figures shots on goal every week, that simply is not the case. Stevenage can be a low output side, as evidenced when they managed just 1 shot on target (and only 3 off) in a dour 0-0 draw with Mansfield Town at home back in mid-December.

No, what is more impressive about Stevenage at home is that they simply do not concede. Evans has constructed a highly organised, tight defensive unit that are nightmarishly difficult to play against. Having let in just 6 goals at home all season, Steve Evans' side have a platform to go and make the most of their attacking forays – which has allowed them to become the top scorers at home in League Two this season with a whopping 27 goals.

There is such a thing as taking your chances consistently at this level after all...

Bradford City 2022/23:
Three draws in a row for City after the disappointment of a late Mansfield equaliser

A late equaliser for Mansfield Town was a gut punch to Mark Hughes' men after a very competent performance last Saturday. In what amounted to a promotion six-pointer, Bradford City looked well on course to deliver 3 invaluable points against a side that recently leapfrogged them – but when energy levels waned after around an hour, it seemed inevitable that Mansfield would grab a share of the spoils, which they duly did when fully back Alfie Kilgour stole into the area unchecked and headed unopposed past goalkeeper Harry Lewis 1 minute into stoppage time.

Positives for City: a rare goal from a corner, headed home by Andy Cook, restored to the starting line up, and delivered by new boy Adam Clayton; an excellent first half display despite the absence of captain Richie Smallwood; and the fact they are now unbeaten in 3, and have lost just 1 in their last 6 league games.

Sadly, however, Bradford City lacked the clinical edge to put Mansfield Town to the sword during their most dominant spells, with Abo Eisa missing a massive chance when through one-on-one with Stags' keeper Scott Flinders, and with Andy Cook and substitute Harry Chapman both guilty of failing to lay off passes that looked almost certain goalscoring opportunities.

Still, there were few complaints after the game despite the nature of the late leveller, and no boos to be heard. Mansfield Town's jubilation told it's own story: The Stags had done well to leave Valley Parade with a point this time around.

Andy Cook's 14th league goal this season consolidated his standing as third highest scorer in League Two this season, having netted precisely twice as many as Stevenage's top goalscorer, Jordan Roberts. It brought to a close an 8-game goal drought for the ex-Mansfield Town centre forward, and Bradford City fans will be hoping it leads him onto another hot vein of form.

City have a lot of improvements to make with regards their own home form – despite losing just 3 at home, draws are the most frequent outcome for The Bantams, with 6 league draws at Valley Parade this season. Away from home, the picture is a little rosier; 6 wins from 13 away league fixtures is the joint fourth-highest in the 'away' league table, and they'll be hoping to upset the form book at the Lamex this weekend.

Highlights:

Bradford City 3 – 0 Stevenage



Bradford City 1 – 1 Mansfield Town



Sutton United 0 – 0 Stevenage



Outlook:

Positive omens for Bradford City are their utter dominance over Stevenage, home and away, in recent seasons. Bradford City have taken 19 points from a possible 21 across the clubs' last 7 meetings, and duly thumped Steve Evans' men 3-0 at Valley Parade earlier this season – a result that came in spite of finishing the game with 10 men after Brad Halliday's late dismissal.

It's hard to expect similar this weekend, however. Stevenage's brutal reign at home has come courtesy of a plethora of goalscorers running throughout their side. As mentioned earlier, their top scorer, midfielder Jordan Roberts (7) is only narrowly ahead of strikers Luke Norris (6), Jamie Reid (5) and Danny Rose (5), while defender Carl Piergianni (5) has been an invaluable source of goals from centre half. Piergianni is not the only defender to net multiple times this season, with Dan Sweeney (3) also adding to the club's tally, while ex-Bantam Jake Reeves (3) is enjoying his joint-most prolific season in first team football (he also scored 3 back in 2014/15 for AFC Wimbledon, but has plenty of games left to beat that record).

Contrast that with Bradford City's dearth of goalscorers in the back line and even central midfield; it's a complaint that has been made multiple times throughout these articles, and one that appears to have no end in sight. Bradford City simply don't have a 'shock' scorer amongst their ranks, and this almost certainly adds to a sense of predictability about The Bantams' attack.

Andy Cook will have an incredibly tough time this Saturday if Piergianni, veteran Michael Bostwick, and Max Clark have anything to say about it – that said, the City centre forward did net twice in the reverse fixture, with only Bostwick absent that day from the likely line up on Saturday.

Bradford City will need to hope that their expansive play draws mistakes out of the Stevenage back line once again, while limiting the number of chances Stevenage create will be a truly manful task for City's own defence. The concern has to be, however, a reversal of the scoreline that City achieved at Valley Parade.

Could it be, though, that Bradford City – and Mark Hughes' tactics – just work against Steve Evans' sides, just as Evans' tactics worked so well against Parkinson back in the day?

Frankly, that seems a lot to ask...

Odds:

4/5: Stevenage
5/2: Draw
10/3: Bradford City

Predicted Outcome (THE VOICE):

Stevenage 2 – 0 Bradford City