The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Swindon Town Tuesday 25 October @ 7:45pm

League Two Fixture #15

Tuesday 25th October 15:00
Bradford City vs Swindon Town
Valley Parade (AKA University of Bradford Stadium)

Most Recent Results:

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

Form: DWLWD

1: Swindon Town 1 – 2 Northampton Town
2: Swindon Town 1 – 0 Newport County
3: Stevenage 2 – 0 Swindon Town
4: Swindon Town 1 – 0 Colchester United
5: Swindon Town 2 – 1 Hartlepool United

Form: WWLWL

Head-to-Head Results:

Head-to-Head Form: LWDWW

18 Mar 2017: Bradford City 2 – 1 Swindon Town
05 Oct 2019: Bradford City 2 – 1 Swindon Town
04 Jan 2020: Swindon Town 1 – 1 Bradford City
23 Oct 2021: Swindon Town 1 – 3 Bradford City
05 Mar 2022: Bradford City 1 – 2 Swindon Town

Head-to-Head Results (All Time):

Won: 13
Drawn: 13
Lost: 16

Biggest Margin of Victory:

11 Mar 1961: Swindon Town 4 – 0 Bradford City

Spoiler: Historic Results Analysis

Bradford City have closed the gap on Swindon Town in recent years, rattling off 4 wins in their last 7 games (with 1 draw and 2 defeats in that span), but are still in arrears historically – but it's close!

Swindon Town and Bradford City first met in 1958 (a 2-2 draw), but the majority of contests between the two have taken place since the 1990's, making this a relatively recent back-and-forth rivalry. The period from 2014-2016 was certainly the bleakest for Bradford City, as they lost 5 out of 6 encounters during that time, before turning the corner more recently.

The two former Premier League sides have met in 3 in the 4 top divisions of the English Football League, but never in the uppermost echelon. Most games have taken place in the third tier of English football, but more recently, both sides have stumbled upon hard times, spending several years in the bottom division – where they meet again this Tuesday night.

Both sides have shared victories with wide margins, including 4-1 wins, but none top the 1961 defeat that consigned Bradford City to a miserable 4-0 away win.

Swindon Town 2022/23:

Scott Lindsey might not be a familiar name to Bradford City fans, but the former Forest Green Rovers assistant has been involved in the Swindon Town set up on two separate occasions. He joined the club as under 18's manager in 2014, before departing for Forest Green in 2016, but returned once again in 2021 as assistant manager to Ben Garner. Ben Garner was appointed as manager of Charlton Athletic in the Summer, and Scott Lindsey was promptly promoted to head coach – and he's done a good job since, with Swindon Town currently sitting 5th, 1 point ahead of Bradford City.

Gone, though, are former City player Jack Payne, goalkeeper Joe Wollacott and defender Mandela Egbo, who all followed Garner to Charlton Athletic, and gone too is reliable centre back Dion Conroy who joined strugglers Crawley Town. But the biggest departure has to be that of Harry McKirdy, the smirking assassin who scored at Valley Parade last season, as he left for Scottish giants Hibernian.

McKirdy's 2 goals from the first 5 games set him on course for another potentially impressive tally, but with him now gone, Swindon Town have turned to the likes of Jacob Wakeling (4), former Premier League winger Johnny Williams (4) and Luke Jephcott (3) for the majority of their goals.

A heavily possession-based side, Swindon Town routinely enjoy between 60-70 % possession, but this does not always equate to victory. For example, in the away game at Gillingham, Swindon Town achieved a whopping 77.8 % possession against a team that played with 10 men for 80 minutes, but were held to a 0-0 draw. In the more recent 2-0 defeat at Stevenage, Swindon Town achieved an impressive 70.3 % possession, but still suffered defeat and failed to score. However, possession remains the bedrock of Swindon Town's play, and has led them to the play off spots at present.

Their home form has been impressive recently, with three successive victories at the County Ground, but results away from home have been hit-and-miss. While Swindon Town did what Bradford City could not do this past weekend by winning at Grimsby Town, the fact is Swindon have won just 2 of 7 away league fixtures this season, drawing 3 and losing another 2.

If Swindon Town are to leave Valley Parade with all 3 points, they will need to produce more than their current tally of 5 goals in 7 away games, particularly against the joint best home defence in the division.

Bradford City 2022/23:

What better place to start than the aforementioned statistic that Bradford City enjoy the joint-best defensive record at home this season? Only Leyton Orient and Tranmere Rovers have managed to reduce the opposition to a total of 4 combined goals this season, but it's not all rosy at Valley Parade at the minute...

With just 1 goal from their previous 4 games across all competitions, the heat is on for the team to find their collective scoring boots ahead of this Tuesday night clash with a team 1 point above them in the League Two table. While a 4-0 defeat against Burton Albion in the Football League Trophy isn't the best barometer for City's forward line with the many changes, 1 goal in 3 league games simply isn't good enough. While the away game at Grimsby Town was unusually exciting for a 0-0 stalemate, it's hard to say the same about the first home league defeat of the season that came when Stockport County visited Valley Parade.

A dour game, City will have hoped to have consigned that effort to the history books with an impressive away win at Salford City; but a draw at Grimsby Town poses the question: are Bradford City lacking bite up front at present?

Certainly Andy Cook has been exceptional this season, but could Mark Hughes be tempted to rotate forwards ahead of successive home games against Swindon Town and Crawley Town?

Vadaine Oliver was part of the side that were hammered 4-0 by Burton Albion, and while that won't have done much to force Hughes' hand, 3 games in 8 days is always an opportunity for squad rotation. If Mark Hughes does choose to field a changed forward line from the Pereira-Cook-Wright trio of more recent times, it will certainly be on the players coming in to make an impression.

After all, Andy Cook himself started the season as second choice, before forcing his way into the starting line up with regular goals from the bench and in cup games. But with goals seemingly drying up of late, Hughes has a selection headache involving all members of the front line.

It will be very interesting to see what Hughes opts for on a cold October night.

Recent Highlights:

Bradford City 0-0 Grimsby Town



Salford City 0-1 Bradford City



Swindon Town 2-1 Hartlepool United



Swindon Town 1-0 Colchester United



Outlook:

Swindon Town are no great shakes away from home, while Bradford City games have become low-scoring affairs of late. Based on the evidence so far, the odds are very definitely against Swindon Town scoring more than 1 goal on Tuesday – and with City drawing multiple blanks lately, a high-scoring affair seems somewhat unlikely.

Still, football is a game that often confounds expectations, so a free-flowing back-and-forth game between two possession-based sides is still a possibility. With Swindon Town having out-performed Bradford City in terms of possession statistics so far this season, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in terms of ball retention and pass completion numbers – but as Swindon Town fans will note, having a massive majority of the play has not always led to goals – particularly away from the County Ground.

Unfortunately for fans of exciting wins, a draw might be the most likely outcome. Draws have been the most prevalent result for Swindon Town away from home, and are the joint-most common outcome for Bradford City at home as well. Between them, the two clubs have played out no fewer than 6 stalemates out of a total of 14 respective home and away ties.

If the game does finish a draw, 0-0 or 1-1 are both the most likely outcomes – but let's hope The Bantams can nick the winner in a game between two legitimate play off hopefuls.

Odds:

19/20: Bradford City
12/5: Draw
3/1: Swindon Town

Predicted Outcome (THE VOICE):

Bradford City 1-1 Swindon Town