The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Walsall Saturday 30th September 3:00pm

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EFL LEAGUE TWO FIXTURE #10

Saturday 30th September 2023 15:00
Bradford City vs Walsall
University of Bradford Stadium (AKA Valley Parade)

22/23 Results:

03 Sep 2022: Bradford City 2 – 1 Walsall
07 Mar 2023: Walsall 0 – 0 Bradford City

Head-to-Head Form: DWWDW

Won: 19
Drawn: 23
Lost: 14

Current League Form:

Bradford City: WDDDW
Walsall: LLWWD

WALSALL:

Indiscipline has been the narrative underscoring a below-average start to the League Two campaign for Walsall. Red cards in their last 2 outings have been matched against 2 straight defeats, but the woes don’t stop there: the first red card of the season came in late August in a 1-1 draw at home to Grimsby Town – that’s 3 reds in just 9 league games!

That cannot be allowed to continue.

Manager Mat Sadler also identifies Walsall’s tendency to concede early as another major issue. In all their last 3 league outings, Walsall have conceded within the first quarter of an hour – and after just 2 minutes against Swindon Town! That’s a second trend Sadler will need to put a lid on, and fast – especially against a Bradford City side that stormed into a 3-0 lead last time out inside half an hour against Newport County.

Will Walsall be able to address their flaws? They’ll certainly hope so, even if the sense is they’ve been a little bit unfortunate with key refereeing decisions lately. Certainly, Saturday’s red card couldn’t have come at a worse time for Walsall – already 1-0 down, and having just cracked the crossbar in reply, defender Taylor Allen was given his marching orders for a tackle referee Declan Bourne adjudged to have been above the knee on the resulting rebound.

That left Walsall with a mountain to climb, then, and despite levelling the scores with their only other shot on goal, AFC Wimbledon made the numerical advantage count by punishing Walsall with 2 further second half goals, and even then the Dons missed a penalty. 3-1 it finished, and the story was similar in the previous fixture against Swindon Town. Conceding early, then having a man sent off, then ultimately being punished by a further goal to send them packing with a 2-0 defeat to their names.

But without those red cards, have Walsall fared any better?

Well, Sadler’s men may need to look in the mirror as opposed to casting a glare towards the officials, as yellow cards certainly haven’t been a rarity either this season. 4 in the season’s opener, a 2-1 defeat at Morecambe, 3 each against both Stockport County and Wrexham, and 5 at home in a 1-0 win over struggling Colchester United have seen the disciplinary points mounting up. Only 2 other sides have worse disciplinary records in League Two this season, those being Notts County and, the worst offenders of all, Forest Green Rovers – but Walsall lead the way in terms of reds dished out.

Without those woes, Walsall haven’t done nearly as badly. A pair of wins over Colchester United and Salford City seemed to have set The Saddlers on course for a tidy run of form, especially on the back of a pair of draws. But that four-game unbeaten run in the league was abruptly ended in those subsequent ties at Swindon Town and then as hosts to AFC Wimbledon.

Now sat in 16th place, Walsall sport a record of 3 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats, and having scored 12 and conceded 16, Walsall are leaking on average nearly 2 goals per game (1.77 to be precise), along with shipping a further 7 across a pair of cup ties against Blackburn Rovers (EFL Cup) and Brighton U21’s (EFL Trophy). More positive news from those games is that on both occasions Walsall only lost by a single goal – though more recently, two-goal margins have been creeping in with greater regularity.

A competitive side for the most part, the only team to really dismantle Walsall outside of AFC Wimbledon was Wrexham, who, barring a last-minute own goal, were on course to win 4-1 (the game ended 4-2 as a result). A team that can be got at defensively, Walsall can be pressured to good effect, but are also likely to present problems at the other end of the pitch.

In terms of familiar faces, Joe Riley and Aramide Oteh may both feature, with Oteh competing for places with the likes of Jamille Matt, Danny Johnson, Ross Tierney, and Freddie Draper, all attackers for the midland side. Oteh (1), Johnson (2), and Draper (3) are the current front runners in terms of goals, while midfielders Isaac Hutchinson (2), Oisin McEntee (1) and Ryan Stirk (1) round out the scoring in terms of League Two strikes.

Ross Draper might be the biggest surprise there, having got more game time for Walsall this season than either last season’s top scorer Danny Johnson or the better known Jamille Matt. Draper, a 19 year old on loan from Lincoln City, spent last season on loan in Ireland for Drogheda, where he enjoyed a productive spell netting 8 times. He might yet be the man to keep an eye on this season, and has certainly started brightly for Walsall.



Walsall 1 – 3 AFC Wimbledon



Swindon Town 2 – 0 Walsall

BRADFORD CITY

Mark Hughes’ Bradford City responded to their most vocal critics after a pair of lacklustre home draws with Grimsby Town and Harrogate Town, when both ties needed rescuing with late levelers. 2 points from a possible 6 was not a great haul by any stretch of the imagination, but with his best attacking options unavailable to him, Hughes was left in a tricky spot - and admitted his side had needed to do some work to adapt.

Alex Gilliead and Jamie Walker supplied the goals that kept City’s points tally ticking over (albeit too slowly for many fans’ appetites), before the issue presented by those absences was underlined emphatically at Newport County. Rodney Parade was the stage, Andy Cook the man: his return marked by an outstanding hat trick, as well as plaudits of being ‘unplayable’ attached to his performance. Last season’s 31-goal bulldozer of a striker hadn’t netted yet this season and seemed to have been nursing a knee injury during several games earlier this season.

It was Hughes’ decision, then, to take him out of the firing line and let him heal up – and once again, a brief period of absence for Cook has paid off dramatically. Cook, who was rested for much of the January transfer window last season, relished making the most of his return en route to a phenomenal haul – and the results were immediate once again with a pair of headers and a tidy finish following a burst straight through the middle despite the best efforts of Declan Drysdale and his shirt tug.

But it wasn’t just Cook that made the difference. Veteran midfielder Kevin McDonald was key to City’s success, and he should be raring to go on Saturday after being left out of the side that lost 2-0 to Middlesbrough on Tuesday night. Rayhaan Tulloch, likewise, made a positive impression and grabbed a goal with a fine finish from an excellent Kevin McDonald cross, while Brad Halliday, too, seemed to be involved in much of City’s best attacking play.

The nature of City’s ruthless 4-1 destruction of Newport County’s struggling defence will be something Bantams fans want to see more of, and most certainly at home. Walsall, whose defensive statistics aren’t entirely dissimilar to Newport’s, might be an ideal next opponent – once the taste of the 2-0 defeat against Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup is excised from the palate.

The only real bright point of the Boro game was the return of 3-goal midfielder Alex Pattison, and the continuance of bright performances from Rayhaan Tulloch and Tyler Smith in a game where City were otherwise over-run for large parts of a lopsided game. The atmosphere deserved better than what looked and felt like a friendly at times, but credit must also go to Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough on a professional job very well done.

If Cook and Pattison can join forces up top, with the additional pacy wing play from Tulloch, City could finally have a very threatening forward line – so after a period of selection headaches Mark Hughes definitely didn’t want, now it might be time for the opposite: Hughes is close to having a full compliment available to him once again, and the fans are hungry for more ruthless attacking play after the towelling given to Newport Couty in South Wales.



Newport County 1 – 4 Bradford City



Bradford City 1 – 1 Harrogate Town

 

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THE BREAKDOWN

Bradford City: 5/6
Draw: 12/5
Walsall: 7/2

No surprise that the odds favour Bradford City here. Walsall have won 1, drawn 1 and lost 3 on their travels in the league this season, while Bradford City remain undefeated – if only just by a whisker – with 2 wins and 2 draws.

The latest results against Grimsby Town and Harrogate Town have seen the Bantams slip down the ‘home league table’ despite having not tasted defeat, so making the most of a tie against a beatable Walsall side is going to be first and foremost in the thoughts of both City fans and – certainly – Mark Hughes. The Newport County win fired City into 11th place, a top half position some didn’t seem to see coming, just 2 points off the play offs and 4 from the automatic spots.

While it’s too early to really pay too much mind to the table, that certainly feels better than starting the previous Saturday off in 16th place – a position nobody wanted the club to be in after 8 games. But suddenly, things are looking up for Bradford City, and not just off the back of 1 result. The 4 goals City slammed home mean they are no longer one of the joint lowest goalscoring sides in the league, a mantle of shame that now passes to the likes of Gillingham, Barrow and Harrogate Town.

Having their best players back, and last season’s top scorer up and running is certainly cause for the optimism to continue to increase. Walsall, too, aren’t the sort of side to come to Valley Parade and park the bus. In their first 3 away league fixtures this season, Walsall’s travelling Saddlers were treated to no fewer than 13 goals – and a further 7 against Blackburn in the EFL Cup sandwiched in between!

Between conceding early and having players dismissed lately, Walsall could potentially be easy to underestimate – but then, so could Bradford City. Without Cook and Pattison in particular, the Bantams have looked turgid at times, lightweight at others; but with them back, and additional reinforcements having joined on loan late in the January transfer window, the club might now have the firepower to go with their reasonably tight back line. While the Bantams continue to concede exactly 1 goal per game on average, the chances of them hitting back with more seems to be increasing.

Expect a competitive game that won’t be easy for either side: but for once, hopefully at least, we can also expect a bit of back-and-forth and some decent attacking play – complimented (again, hopefully) by a little bit of susceptibility in the Saddler’s back line.

The pick is a Bradford City win, and another little morale boost for a jaded fan base begging to be entertained. Don’t let us down, boys…

PREDICTION:

Bradford City 3 – 1 Walsall