The Voice - Match preview Barrow vs Bradford City Saturday 6 August 2022 @ 3:00pm

League Two Fixture #2

Saturday 30 July 15:00
Barrow vs Bradford City
Holker Street

Most Recent Results:

Bradford City 0 – 0 Doncaster Rovers

Stockport County (Sarcevic 49, Madden 70) 2 – 3 (Gordon 6, Whitfield 20, Waters 33) Barrow

Head-to-Head Results:

Form: WDWLD

08 Apr 1970: Bradford City 3 – 3 Barrow [League Division Three]
31 Oct 2020: Barrow (Brown 18) 1 – 0 Bradford City [League Two]
30 Jan 2021: Bradford City (Rowe 5, Cooke 49) 2 – 1 (Quigley 37, Pen) Barrow [League Two]
18 Sep 2021: Bradford City (Vernam 59) 1 – 1 (Kay 21) Barrow [League Two]
01 Jan 2022: Barrow (Gordon 52) 1 – 2 (Angol 8, Cook 49) Bradford City [League Two]

Head-to-Head Results (All Time):

Won: 23
Drawn: 14
Lost: 14

Biggest Margin of Victory:

09 Mar 1929: Bradford City 8 – 0 Barrow [Division Three (North)]

Spoiler: Historic Results Analysis

Bradford City have not only enjoyed a stellar historical record against Barrow that has included 8-0 and 7-1 wins, but City have held the upper hand since Barrow returned to the Football League with a recent record of 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat.

In terms of goals scored, the games have been relatively close with a goal margin of no greater than + or - 1. Across four recent league games, Bradford City have scored 5 goals, conceding 3, giving City the upper hand.

It's worth noting with regards to 'Form' that Bradford City and Barrow did not meet for a full 50 years prior to the 31 Oct 2020 game.

Opposition Transfer Activity:

Barrow – Incoming:

Sam Foley, Midfielder, Tranmere Rovers, Free Transfer
George Ray, Defender, Exeter City, Free Transfer
Billy Waters, Forward, Halifax Town, Free Transfer
Solomon Nwabuokei, Midfielder, Woking, Free Transfer
Ben Whitfield, Midfielder, Stockport, Free Transfer
Tyrell Warren, Defender, Halifax, Free Transfer
Richie Bennett, Forward, Sutton United, Undisclosed
Harrison Neal, Winger, Sheffield United, Loan
Sam McClelland, Defender, Chelsea, Loan

Barrow – Outgoing:

George Williams, Forward, Boreham Wood, Free Transfer
Luke James, Forward, York City, Free Transfer
Kgosi Ntlhe, Defender, Scunthorpe United, Free Transfer
Tom Beadling, Midfielder, Western Sydney, Free Transfer
Matthew Platt, Defender, Bradford City, Free Transfer
James Jones, Defender, Altrincham, Free Transfer
Offrande Zanzala, Forward, Newport County, Free Transfer
Ollie Banks, Midfielder, Chesterfield, Undisclosed
Remeao Hutton, Defender, Swindon Town, Undisclosed
Mike Jones, Midfielder, Released
Dimitri Sea, Forward, Released

Spoiler: Transfer Analysis

Two of Barrow's three goalscorers at the weekend were new signings; Billy Waters from Halifax Town, and Ben Whitfield from Stockport County (against his former club).

Billy Waters may be a familiar name, having netted 21 goals for neighbours Halifax Town last season, and he duly opened his League Two account with a neat finish. Whitfield was able to make the most of similarly sloppy defending earlier in the game, lending hope to the League Two minnows ahead of the new campaign.

Alongside Waters and Whitfield, five other signings made their Barrow debut, lending a new look to the Bluebirds team. Those names were Tyrell Warren, Sam Foley, Harrison Neal, Sam McClelland and George Ray. Of the new signings, three were defenders, two were midfielders, two were forwards.

Bradford City fans will remember Niall Canavan and winger Jordan Stevens, both January recruits for Barrow last season. City fans may also be familiar with former Leeds United midfielder Robbie Gotts, signed in August of last year.

Of the players to have left Barrow, Bradford City were able to poach Matthew Platt who made 31 appearances and scored 2 goals last season, while Ollie Banks made 46 appearances scoring 12 goals, Offrande Zanzala made 42 appearances notching 7 goals, Remeao Hutton made 51 appearances, James Jones made 31 appearances and scored 2 goals, George Williams made 22 appearances with 1 goal, former Bantams striker Luke James made 22 appearances without scoring, Tom Beadling made 13 appearances, Kgosi Ntlhe made 7 appearances, Mike Jones managed just 4 appearances, and Dimitri Sea made 12 substitute appearances with 2 goals.

Barrow 2021/22:

Barrow finished in 22nd place, avoiding relegation by 6 points. Barrow were the third lowest scorers last season, notching just 44 goals (only Scunthorpe United and Carlisle United scored fewer), but defensively they were joint 11th best with just 57 conceded. That's just 2 more than were conceded by City.

Barrow have lost a number of regular starters from last season, though given their lowly finish, that may be by design. The loss of top scorer Ollie Banks (12) will be a big blow, though they were able to retain Josh Gordon (7), Josh Kay (6) and John Rooney (5).

With the majority of those departing Barrow heading for either non-league or overseas territories, there's a definite feeling last season's squad needed to be improved upon.

Barrow 2022/23:

Barrow's 3-2 win at Stockport County will have be an eye-opener for bettors buying into Stockport's favouritism with the bookies. All three of Barrow's goals came in the first half, with two coming as direct results of defensive errors. Nonetheless, Barrow will be delighted that all three forwards opened their accounts.

The second half saw Stockport rally, playing through the Barrow lines to run the away side close. Still, the victory will be a huge boost for last season's strugglers.

Statistically, Barrow enjoyed only 37 % possession, but had a similar number of shots on goal (11:10 in Stockport's favour). This implies Barrow needed far less of the ball to create opportunities, sometimes capitalising on errors.

The Stockport-Barrow game was statistically much closer than the Bradford-Doncaster game in all aspects except for 'Tackles Won'. Barrow provided the superior statistic with 13 tackles won, out-performing all of Stockport, Bradford and Doncaster.

In terms of individual performances, Barrow shared their efforts on goal evenly along their front line. All of Waters, Whitfield and Gordon had 2 shots apiece, with Gordon the only player to miss the target.

Tellingly for future opponents, Callum Camps and Antoni Sarcevic were the most prolific shooters for Stockport, both midfielders, both notching 2 shots on goal, implying good defending against Stockport's front line of Madden and Wootton.

Tyrell Warren was Barrow's key tackler, while goalkeeper Paul Farman was statistically Barrow's highest passing player, implying heavy pressure from Stockport. Billy Waters was Barrow's most successful passer with just 17 completed passes.

Barrow's Sam Foley was the most fouled player of the game.

Bradford City 2022/23:

Bradford City kicked off the season with a 0-0 draw at home to newly relegated Doncaster Rovers, with both teams seeing a player sent off.

The match started with the devastating loss of Emmanuel Osadebe to a double leg fracture, but Bradford City were able to dominate most of the game with 80 % possession overall. Doncaster Rovers paid for the histrionics of new signing Lee Tomlin, who was dismissed for picking up two yellows in less than a minute after kicking the ball away, then simulating an injury as a result of a collision with Jamie Walker.

Despite Bradford City's dominance in possession, and despite managing 22 efforts on goal, Bradford City were held by a resolute Doncaster defence, and were forced to settle for a point.

Richard Smallwood had the most shots for Bradford City with 3, including 1 that hit the post, while Liam Ridehalgh was statistically City's busiest defender with 4 tackles. Romoney Crichlow garnered the Man of the Match for his performance, which is reflected by the statistics. Crichlow attempted 97 passes, with 88 completed. Matthew Platt was second on both counts, attempting 95 passes, completing 86, giving both centre backs a 91 % pass completion.

Only substitute Kian Harratt managed a higher percentage, with 9 of 9 passes completed, giving him a 100 % pass completion.

Statistically the worst passers of the Bradford City line up to play 20 minutes or more were Vadaine Oliver (73 %), Lee Angol (77 %), and Liam Ridehalgh (79 %). Nonetheless, only one Walsall player managed a higher pass completion percentage than City's lowest player, Oliver, with Ro-Shaun Williams managing 75 %. This implies near total dominance from City, and an extremely strong all-round performance in terms of possession.

Outlook:

If the statistics after one game are to be relied upon (highly unlikely due to sample size), then Bradford City may need to look to their midfielders to provide the danger against Barrow. The success of Stockport's central midfielders in both creating chances and scoring might point to the finishing prowess of Jamie Walker and Richie Smallwood as being particularly important.

Barrow will likely expect to lose the battle for possession despite being at home. This will be less of a concern if they are able to profit from defensive errors as they did against Stockport. Given the extremely high passing success rate of Crichlow and Platt, that might be easier said than done, although it should be taken into account the low pressure approach of Doncaster's forward lines, particularly after being reduced to 10 men.

Bradford City will fancy their chances, and will be very keen to open the scoring after missing the target persistently in the season's opener. Barrow, meanwhile, hit Stockport early, but looked flimsy while trying to defend a three goal lead. Neat finishing has given them three points, and they will look to be equally ruthless in front of goal on Saturday.

Odds:

17/10 – Barrow
11/5 – Draw
7/4 – Bradford City

Predicted Outcome (Sportsmole):

Barrow 0 – 1 Bradford City (11.76 % probability)