The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Doncaster Rovers Tuesday 5th March 2024 @ 7:45pm

EFL LEAGUE TWO FIXTURE #34

Tuesday 5th March 2024 15:00
Bradford City (15th) vs Doncaster Rovers (20th)
University of Bradford Stadium (AKA Valley Parade)

23/24 Result:

30 Jul 2022: Bradford City 0 – 0 Doncaster Rovers
25 Feb 2023: Doncaster Rovers 0 – 1 Bradford City
22 Dec 2023: Doncaster Rovers 1 – 3 Bradford City
30 Jan 2024: Bradford City 1 – 0 Doncaster Rovers [EFL Trophy]

Head-to-Head Form: WWWDD (most recent result first)

Won: 36
Drawn: 25
Lost: 28

Current League Form:

Bradford City: WWWDL
Doncaster Rovers: LWWDW

DONCASTER ROVERS

Doncaster Rovers have been on a decent spell of form lately, going five games unbeaten before running into one of League Two’s form teams in Walsall. The Saddlers duly beat Doncaster 3-1 at the weekend, but prior to that the South Yorkshire side had won 3 and drawn 2 in their best five game period of the season. That Doncaster’s opposition during that mini-spell were all (bar AFC Wimbledon) firmly entrenched in the bottom half of the table might be an indicator that they were going through an ‘easier’ set of fixtures, but that would be unfair.

The good run lasted throughout February, starting with a 1-1 draw away at struggling Sutton United, with a last minute penalty converted by Joe Ironside rescuing a point, but if that sounds fortunate then their 2-1 win over Tranmere Rovers was an example of Rovers at their ruthless best. They may have had far fewer chances than Tranmere (4 vs 10), but Doncaster used those opportunities far better. They came out on top in terms of shots on target (3 vs 2) and ran away 2-1 winners after goals from Ironside and Hakeeb Adelakun.

Salford City away came next, and Doncaster again came away with a point thanks to a Curtis Tilt own goal and another from Adelakun, with Salford eventually finding an 89th minute leveller to tie the game at 2-2. Grimsby Town away was a different story entirely. Doncaster Rovers punished Grimsby Town with 5 goals from 4 shots on target – yes, you read that right – after a Niall Maher own goal piled on the misery alongside goals from Luke Molyneux, Joe Ironside (3 in 4 games), Matthew Craig, and Kyle Hurst. Final score: 5-1 to the away side, Doncaster Rovers.

Doncaster arguably saved their most impressive result for the end of February, when a 1-0 home win over AFC Wimbledon saw them out-play and shut out a side in the top half of the table. Hakeeb Adelakun got the only goal of the game to make it 3 goals in 5 for him personally, though the 3-1 defeat at Walsall this past weekend put a dampener on things, Kyle Hurst’s sole strike proving little more than a consolation in the Midlands.

Joe Ironside (14) is the top league goalscorer this season for Doncaster Rovers, with Mo Faal (7) next in spite of making a loan switch to Walsall (and yes, he scored against his former club in that 3-1 win). While the loss of their second highest goalscorer might have been a bitter blow, Doncaster have seen a slew of players contributing, especially (recently at least) Kyle Hurst (2) with a pair of recent goals. Hakeeb Adelakun, a January loan capture from Lincoln City, is already on 3 – alongside Harrison Biggins, Ben Close, and Luke Molyneux.

With Adelakun and Ironside showing early signs of a fruitful partnership, Bradford City will have to be on their toes this coming Tuesday evening, but with 2 wins in the bag already against Doncaster Rovers this season, the pressure will be on Grant McCann’s side to make the most of their new-found goal threat. Boasting a very poor record against the Bantams in recent season, the onus is on Doncaster Rovers to turn things round, particularly with Bradford City currently enjoying good league form.

BRADFORD CITY

Back-to-back postponements have frustrated Bradford City fans, and the club will be desperate to get this one underway in what is one of a now increasing number of rearranged ties. A fixture initially set for January 20, a frozen pitch at Valley Parade put paid to City’s ambitions of getting a win in the middle of an eventual 8 game winless run in the league. Now, with the fixture scheduled for this coming Tuesday evening, Bradford City find themselves on much better form, with 3 straight wins in League Two – but with one of their home fixtures already called off, the last thing City now need is an extended period without a game.

Barrow’s pitch didn’t hold up last weekend, and this time it was Valley Parade’s turn to wind up waterlogged ahead of a game with off-form Notts County. Recent photos show a pitch in a terrible state, though that alone won’t be enough to see this game called off on Tuesday: that will be down to the weather, and any further downpours. Hopefully, should the game go ahead, Bradford City can get back in the saddle with another victory over a now-familiar foe.

They’ll need to: results elsewhere have not gone City’s way lately, and the gap between themselves and the top 7 is now back to 8 points, and while they have a game in hand over some sides, they don’t have any over 8th placed Barrow (7 points ahead) or on-song Crawley Town (3 points ahead). What’s more, with Walsall having now recorded 5 straight wins in the league, there’s a danger teams will pull even further ahead with either further postponements or indeed any poor results. The pressure is getting ratcheted up with City even kicking a ball!

City, then, need the game to go ahead on Tuesday in what will be a must-win tie. While Grant McCann’s side are in decent form, Graham Alexander’s Bradford City must consign an unfortunate 1-0 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers to the history books and make it 4 straight league wins of their own – a feat they managed in a great run between mid-November and mid-December, before another lengthy winless run set them back again. If Alexander’s tenure is to be marked by extended peaks and troughs, riding the crest of the wave for as long as possible will be even more critical.

Bradford City can get it done. The Bantams already hold 2 wins over Doncaster Rovers this season, the first coming in the away fixture in the league, an Andy Cook double and a strike from Tyler Smith cancelling out Joe Ironside’s opener as City ran out 3-1 winners. Then, City repeated the feat in the EFL Trophy, a cracker from Harry Chapman seeing the Bantams safely through in spite of a rare red card for leading marksman Andy Cook. Can Bradford City make it a ‘threepeat’, as the Americans might say?

The omens are good, but of course only if the game actually goes ahead…

THE BREAKDOWN

8/11: Bradford City
13/5: Draw
15/4: Doncaster Rovers

This breakdown will make it 3 on the spin without a game going ahead in the meantime! That’s an unusual situation, but given the amount of rainfall this Winter, perhaps one to be expected – and certainly one that couldn’t have been avoided.

Quite how the break in play affects Bradford City remains to be seen. Doncaster Rovers have played twice since we last saw anyone in claret and amber kick a ball, winning one, then losing for the first time since 30th January. They will certainly be looking to hit the ground running at Valley Parade, but the prospect of facing an on-form Bradford City side might be a little too reminiscent of their recent trip to on-song Walsall for their liking.

Still, as has been discussed at length, the thing that continues to nag at the prospect of a Bradford City win is their low goalscoring record of late. Aside from a 4-0 demolition job of Graham Alexander’s former side MK Dons, Bradford City have been limited to just one goal a game or fewer since way back to January 6th, when they lost 4-2 at home to Crawley Town. Defensively, though, 4 straight clean sheets in the league is nothing to sniff at, and while Doncaster Rovers have begun to score at a reasonable clip, their 5 goal salvo at Grimsby Town is (like the MK Dons game for City) somewhat anomalous.

Getting to grips with Doncaster Rovers’ leaky defence has been a season-long struggle for Grant McCann. While shipping 60 goals isn’t all that unusual for a side in the bottom 6, it is something Rovers have worked diligently to improve upon since a nightmarish 3-game period back in late December that saw them ship 11 goals in 3 games – including 3 at home to the Bantams in that 3-1 away win. Recently, things have been looking okay. 7 goals conceded in their last 5 games is a reasonable statistic, particularly coupled with 11 scored in that same period – but it’s not one that comes close to matching the Bantams’ watertight defence of recent weeks.

So, can Bradford City score a third and final win over Doncaster Rovers this Tuesday evening? It would seem likely, even if there are some unanswered questions surrounding the state of the Valley Parade pitch and whether or not the lack of competitive game time has either a positive or negative impact on Graham Alexander’s chosen XI.

While those particular issues cannot be easily foreseen, Bradford City have certainly enjoyed themselves when playing Doncaster Rovers this season. Neither victory, including the narrow 1-0 win in the EFL Trophy, were particularly perilous. The Bantams have looked to have had Doncaster Rovers’ number, and it will be no small comfort to realize that Graham Alexander himself has led the team to victory on both occasions.

The pick will be a 2-0 win for Bradford City, though the threat presented by Hakeeb Adelakun and Joe Ironside cannot be underestimated. If Bradford City’s back line can continue to produce top drawer performances, however, even they will struggle.

PREDICTION:

Bradford City 2 – 0 Doncaster Rovers