The Voice - Match preview #26: Huddersfield Town vs Bradford City Saturday 24th January 2026 12:30pm

EFL League One Fixture #26
Saturday 24th January 2026 12:30
Huddersfield Town (6th) vs Bradford City (3rd)
Accu Stadium

Record:
Games Won: 15
Games Drawn: 17
Games Lost: 21

Last 5:
10 Mar 2007: Huddersfield Town 2 – 0 Bradford City
12 Aug 2008: Huddersfield Town 4 – 0 Bradford City [EFL Cup]
04 Oct 2011: Huddersfield Town 2 – 2 Bradford City [EFL Trophy]
06 Aug 2013: Huddersfield Town 2 – 1 Bradford City [EFL Cup]
13 Sep 2025: Bradford City 3 – 1 Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town:
Lee Grant has gone after just 8 months at Huddersfield Town, the former goalkeeper looking like falling some way short of Kevin Nagel’s lofty ambitions of securing automatic promotion this season. Sat in 6th place, the Terriers have spent a great deal of money including a £1,200,000 fee for Birmingham City’s Alfie May, yet find themselves 10 points adrift of 2nd place Lincoln City, and firmly in the shadow of West Yorkshire rivals and relative economic minnows Bradford City, who beat them 3-1 at Valley Parade earlier this season.

A 3-1 defeat at Burton Albion, a side deeply entrenched in a relegation dogfight, was the last straw, a result that extended Town’s winless run in league football to 4 games. While a point at Lincoln City off the back of 3 straight wins in the league hardly seemed to set the tone for the recent downturn in form, failure to beat Exeter City at home (2-2) and then defeat at promotion rivals Stockport County meant Nagel felt unable to wait any longer. With a pivotal tie with 3rd place Bradford City in the offing, a home fixture no less and one with a real sense of rivalry surrounding it, confidence in Grant simply wasn’t high enough to give the task of trying to win the West Yorkshire derby.

Alfie May did score at Burton, but it was only his 5th league goal of the season, a tally well below what would have been expected given such a significant transfer fee. Leo Castledine, the club’s top scorer with 10, has come and gone, the former loanee now having sign terms on a permanent move to Middlesbrough, while £3 million forward Joe Taylor continues to underwhelm as well with just 4 goals this season. Serbian forward Bojan Radulovic is now the club’s top scorer with 7 league goals this season, the 26 year old also a £1 million-plus striker, but by rights Town fans should have expected more from a trio of strikers who have set them back over £5 million.

There’s no question Huddersfield Town do have the ability to score goals, though. The club have netted 11 more than Bradford City and have rattled off 3 goals or more in no fewer than 10 times in both league and cup. The main problems Huddersfield Town appear to have had under Lee Grant are goals conceded (the highest in the top 13), and an abject inability to compete with the top sides in the division. To spell it out, the Terriers have played the other sides in the top 7 a total of 7 times in the league, and picked up just 1 point. That sole point came at home to Lincoln City on New Year’s Day, while all of Cardiff City, Bradford City, Stockport County (twice), Bolton Wanderers and Luton Town defeated Huddersfield Town.

It comes as no surprise, then, to recall that when Town visited Valley Parade earlier this season, the Terriers displayed a soft underbelly once the going got tough. After a strong showing in the early part of the match, Lee Grant’s Town found themselves overwhelmed once Bobby Pointon gave City an 18th minute lead, and a quick one-two from Pointon and Neuville directly before half time completed the away side’s dismal capitulation. Zepiqueno Redmond pulled one back in the 80th minute, but it was too little, too late.

They will have to hope, then, that new appointee Liam Manning (breaking during writing) can turn round their fortunes particularly in these pivotal top-of-the-table scraps. A former Bristol City and Norwich City manager, who boasted win percentages of over 48 % in earlier stints at MK Dons and Oxford United, Manning is known to prefer a “high possession, high pressing” style of play per comments made when in charge at Milton Keynes.

How quickly the current Huddersfield Town players can adapt to Manning’s new set up will dictate how well they compete against rivals Bradford City on Saturday afternoon, but with plenty of quality at his disposal, Manning will be hoping for a positive start. Tightening up defensively will be high on the agenda, with the side likely expected to defend from the front.

Burton Albion 3 – 1 Huddersfield Town


Stockport County 1 – 0 Huddesrfield Town


Bradford City:
Bradford City walked away from Valley Parade with a rare home defeat against top-of-the-table Cardiff City, who have now put clear daylight between themselves and the rest of the division. 6 points clear of Lincoln City, and 9 clear of Bradford City in third, the Bluebirds are on song and on top while the Bantams have picked up 3 wins and 3 defeats from their past 6 games. Now in the midst of arguably the toughest run of fixtures of the season so far, City’s stuttering form is threatening to derail their automatic promotion charge, with Stockport County suddenly snapping at their heels in 4th.

Still, there’s little reason for outright negativity. The season has been a clear success so far, 3rd place after 25 games likely exceeding even the most optimistic Bantams’ fan’s preseason expectations. The problem is, such a good first half of the season leaves Bradford City with something to lose – and nobody likes seeing lofty prizes slip away...

Graham Alexander’s men must pick themselves up, then, ahead of tough away days at Huddersfield Town and Lincoln City, with the likes of Luton Town and Stockport County also to play within the space of 3 weeks. January-February could be make or break for Bradford City in terms of their ongoing promotion push and must be confronted amidst a bevvy of changes.

Whether it is the right time or the wrong time to make so many adjustments to the playing staff remains to be seen, but all of Harrison Ashby, Joe White and Louie Sibley made cameo appearances in the home defeat to Cardiff City. Despite the influx of new faces, Graham Alexander will be disappointed that his side registered just 1 shot on target, a screamer from Jenson Metcalfe that easily matched that of opposite number David Turnbull in the first half. That sore statistic has seen many City fans turn their attentions to the club’s centre forward offerings, with neither Will Swan nor Stephen Humphrys covering themselves in glory in such a crucial game, and with Andy Cook having departed for Grimsby Town on loan.

It may be met with some consternation, then, that City haven’t (as of Tuesday) brought in a new forward, much less one with any level of experience, but there’s still time for someone to emerge at Valley Parade before a ball is kicked at the Accu Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Despite the worries about City’s attacking options, though, there’s no denying that Bradford City were extremely competitive against their more expensive and arguably more illustrious Welsh opponents. Absent was any real sense of total negativity after the game, with many feeling that on another day City could have rescued at least a point.

Onwards, then, to another very tough fixture, with 6th placed Huddersfield Town now under the charge of new manager Liam Manning. Homegrown hero Bobby Pointon excelled in the reverse fixture at Valley Parade, netting twice, and will be hungry for more. There are concerns about the likes of veteran midfield duo Max Power and Antoni Sarcevic looking a little leggy, however, and questions about whether Alexander may wring the changes in the form of his new loanee trio.

There are, to put it lightly, many, many questions over the potential starting lineup for City, as they look to frustrate one of the better attacking sides in the division on the back of only lukewarm form.

Bradford City 1 – 2 Cardiff City


Blackpool 1 – 2 Bradford City

 

Prediction:
Factually speaking, neither Huddersfield Town nor Bradford City are on great form. Huddersfield Town’s recent winless run has cost Lee Grant his job and seen a replacement in Liam Manning installed, while Bradford City’s 3 wins in 6 (and poor recent away record) have convinced Graham Alexander to make numerous switches during the January window. Some of City’s League Two favourites have gone, with all of Brad Halliday, Andy Cook, Alex Pattison and Lewis Richards departing, replaced by a pair of Newcastle United loanees, as well as Louie Sibley from Oxford United.

Bradford City fans will be waiting with baited breath for the inevitable replacement for Andy Cook, as well as further potential adjustments to the playing staff, and there could be even more fundamental changes to the anticipated game on Saturday afternoon – leading to the question of whether it’s all too much, too quickly for Graham Alexander’s side.

While Graham has resisted wholesale changes to the starting XI to date, any or all of Ashby, White and Sibley could be called upon to start at Huddersfield, and with no clear preferred starting striker in Alexander’s current thinking, there could even be a change up top as well, if business is concluded in good time. Exciting times? Sure – but there has to be a bit of trepidation, too.

I suspect while Huddersfield Town will be looking to make an immediate impression for their new manager, and with plenty of strength in depth already in the building at the Accu Stadium, a turnaround in form is a real possibility. Whether Manning can add some steel and backbone to a side that have performed abysmally against their promotion rivals is a big question, however, with the free scoring Terriers having displayed a poor defence on several occasions this season.

I think we will see a game where both sides are striving to improve, but where both sides have shown some real weaknesses of late. For City, most of their recent issues have come on the road; for Huddersfield Town, they have shown they are good in control but much less so under pressure. Fixing such deeply ingrained issues isn’t easy, and won’t happen overnight – therefore I think the most sensible pick is a draw. While both sides would be delighted with a win here, the pick that feels safest is a 1-1 tie, though there are so many variables at the moment that it’s very hard to be confident.

Final Score:
Huddersfield Town 1 – 1 Bradford City