The Voice - Match preview #37: Bradford City vs Tranmere Rovers Saturday 15th March 2025 3:00pm

EFL League Two Fixture #37
Saturday 15th March 2025 15:00
Bradford City (2nd) vs Tranmere Rovers (22nd)
University of Bradford Stadium (AKA Valley Parade)

Record:
Games Won: 35
Games Drawn: 20
Games Lost: 38

Last 5:
13 Sep 2022: Tranmere Rovers 1 – 2 Bradford City
14 Feb 2023: Bradford City 2 – 0 Tranmere Rovers
03 Oct 2023: Tranmere Rovers 2 – 1 Bradford City
29 Mar 2024: Bradford City 2 – 0 Tranmere Rovers
12 Oct 2024: Tranmere Rovers 0 – 2 Bradford City

Tranmere Rovers:
The worst performing ‘Away’ side in League Two, Tranmere Rovers have at least shown modest improvements to their recent form with a win and a pair of draws gleaned from their last 3 games. A 1-1 draw at Grimsby Town marked the first time Tranmere Rovers have avoided defeat away from home following a 10-game losing streak and has been flanked by a decent home point against Port Vale and, most recently, a 2-1 home win over Bromley.

These improvements couldn’t come fast enough for Tranmere Rovers given they currently sit 22nd in the League Two table and remain in serious danger of being relegated back out of the EFL having won promotion back to the league back in 2018. Micky Mellon, father of Bradford City loanee Michael Mellon, was the man that helped chairman Mark Palios reestablish Tranmere Rovers as a League side, while their continued survival now lies in the hands of interim manager Andy Crosby – who has guided Tranmere to their current 3-game unbeaten run after taking charge following Nigel Adkins’ sacking on 26 February. Crosby, who remains unbeaten as Tranmere Rovers manager, has since been rewarded for the recent uptick in form by being named ‘interim’ until the end of the season at least.

Chalk it up to a ‘new manager bounce’ if you like, but one thing is for sure: Tranmere Rovers, with the second worst defence in the division having conceded 55 goals in 36 games, have tightened things up at the back quite significantly in recent games, conceding 4 in their last 4. Compare that to 11 in their previous 6 games, and the number of goals conceded per game has been close to halved.

Crosby, a Leeds United youth team product, was a good lower league defender in his own right and seems to have made an immediate impact in terms of defensive efficiency. But that’s not all: Tranmere Rovers have now scored in 3 straight games for the first time since late January-early February, with all of Kristian Dennis, Sam Finley, Josh Hawkes and Omari Patrick getting on the score sheet during that period. Speaking of goalscorers, former City winger Omari Patrick (7) leads the way for the Rovers, with Kristian Dennis (5) and Connor Jennings (4) the only other players to have scored more than 2 this season. The restoration of Josh Hawkes to the starting line up having been frozen out for long spells by Adkins seems to have made an impact, and if he can re-find his goalscoring touch, he could yet be a crucial player with aging forwards Kristian Dennis and Connor Jennings having proven unable to find the net with any regularity.

City fans might recall some familiar faces among the visiting numbers. Goalkeeper Luke McGee, once on loan from Portsmouth, is very much Tranmere’s number one, while Connor Wood (now 28) and Omari Patrick (also 28) are both likely to start.

Statistically, Tranmere Rovers remain the least efficient side in front of goal in League Two. Sitting as high as 6th in the xG table, it is quite remarkable that the Merseysiders have an “xG vs Actual” stat of -0.66. A positive interpretation of such figures would suggest Tranmere Rovers in a false position and should be far higher given the number of opportunities created; a negative interpretation would, therefore, be that when it comes to being clinical, Tranmere’s performance this season has been pathetic. Still, something for Crosby to work with…

Tranmere Rovers 2 – 1 Bromley


Grimsby Town 1 – 1 Tranmere Rovers


Bradford City:
Bradford City’s away form continues to be average-at-best, and a poor defeat at Gillingham cooled some of the more jubilant sentiments among the Bradford City fan base. Nobody will be getting too carried away with a single defeat, however, especially when results at home have set records. 10 straight home wins is the stuff of dreams for the success-starved Valley Parade crowd, and last Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Cheltenham Town was one of the best performances served up in recent memory.

With only one further Tuesday night game (away at Port Vale on April 1st) still to be played, things should start to feel less frenetic. Whether that is seen as a positive or a negative will vary from player to player – but it should mean fewer injuries and less requirement to rotate the squad due to fatigue, at least in theory. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing will again depend on individual performance, but having fielded a depleted first XI against both Cheltenham Town and Gillingham, the opportunity for key players to have longer to build back their fitness between games will be more than welcome.

Michael Mellon, son of Tranmere Rovers two-time player and two-time manager Micky Mellon, should be available to return to the starting line up after being rested at Gillingham, but the fitness of Antoni Sarcevic is less positive having suffered a hamstring strain that will keep him out for the foreseeable future. Lewis Richards will undergo a pair of surgeries that rules him out for the season, while Alex Pattison is recovering from having his appendix removed. In more positive news, all of Ciaran Kelly, Tyreik Wright and Callum Johnson could be fit to feature on Saturday.

Getting the selection right against a seemingly more resilient and defensively responsible Tranmere Rovers side will be crucial for Graham Alexander. His side remain just 2 points behind stuttering leaders Walsall, and City fans would love nothing more than to lift a rare and elusive trophy of any kind. Games like Saturdays see clubs with contrasting narratives clash, and the side that is ultimately successful will always be the one that can impose their story on the opposition.

Gillingham 1 – 0 Bradford City


Bradford City 3 – 0 Cheltenham Town


Prediction:
There was no real sense of panic despite a disappointing defeat last Saturday as John Coleman’s Gillingham did a professional job on title-chasers Bradford City. Such stutter steps seem to have been largely consigned to games ‘on the road’ for the Bantams, whereas Valley Parade has seen some quite remarkable form and performances this season. While Andy Crosby has created a new manager bounce for the struggling Rovers, the fact is, Tranmere remain the worst performing away side in the division. They visit the best performing home side, and while Tranmere Rovers’ xG suggests they have major underachievers all campaign, their inability to convert chances cannot be easily dismissed.

On paper, this fixture represents the chance for a routine return-to-form, but Crosby’s men will have no intention of rolling over and presenting their new gaffer with his first defeat in charge. More difficult to beat than they have been since a 4-game unbeaten run way back in October, Tranmere Rovers will be coming to Valley Parade in search of more invaluable points, and will plan to give the Bantams a much tougher game than they may have expected a few short weeks ago.

That said, City were rampant in their last home game, their high pressure approach proving far too much for Michael Flynn’s Cheltenham Town to deal with (and that Cheltenham side then went to AFC Wimbledon and beat them in their very next away game). The Robins are certainly not a bad side but simply couldn’t settle at Valley Parade.

More of the same, then, please against a no-doubt defiant Tranmere Rovers side. While neither playoff chasing Port Vale or Grimsby Town were able to deny Crosby a point, City haven’t won 10 in a row at home by mistake. They are, or at least they have been, simply irresistible at times.

That said, that 10 game run has been predicated on 4x 1-0 wins, and 6 victories by a single goal margin. While bigger victories have come against sides performing well or at least reasonably (see: Grimsby Town 3-1, Walsall 3-0, MK Dons 2-0, Cheltenham Town 3-0), results against struggling sides have been exclusively low scoring affairs. Swindon Town, Morecambe, Harrogate Town and Accrington Stanley all came and lost, but only by the narrowest of margins.

Expect that to play out here, too. Tranmere Rovers’ newfound defensively responsible outcomes have seen them cut down goals to a minimum under Crosby, and while they will certainly look to play spoiler at the other end, the pick will be a 1-0 win for Bradford City. 1-1 would hurt, but wouldn’t be necessarily be a disaster taking into account Tranmere’s recent results against decent sides. A 2-1 win for City would also be in line with recent results.

Final Score:
Bradford City 1 – 0 Tranmere Rovers