The Voice - Match preview Harrogate Town vs Bradford City Saturday 1 October @ 1:00pm

League Two Fixture #12

Saturday 1st October 13:00
Harrogate Town vs Bradford City
Wetherby Road (AKA EnviroVent Stadium)

Most Recent Results:

1: Bradford City 0 – 0 Crewe Alexandra
2: Bradford City 2 – 1 Walsall
3: Tranmere Rovers 1 – 2 Bradford City
4: Bradford City 3 – 0 Stevenage
5: Bradford City 2 – 2 AFC Wimbledon

Form: DWWWD

1: Harrogate Town 0 – 4 Newport County
2: Sutton United 2 – 1 Harrogate Town
3: Harrogate Town 0 – 1 Salford City
4: Stockport County 0 – 0 Harrogate Town
5: Stevenage 1 – 0 Harrogate Town

Form: LDLLL

Head-to-Head Results:

Head-to-Head Form: LLLL

12 Oct 2020: Bradford City 0 – 1 (Kerry 74) Harrogate Town
17 Apr 2021: Harrogate Town (Muldoon 22, McPake 89) 2 – 1 (Cook 72) Bradford City
05 Feb 2022: Harrogate Town (Diamond 62, 71) 2 – 0 Bradford City
22 Feb 2022: Bradford City (Foulds 12) 1 – 3 (Burrell 45+5, Page 62, Diamond 90) Harrogate Town

Head-to-Head Results (All Time):

Won: 0
Drawn: 0
Lost: 4

Biggest Margin of Victory:

05 Feb 2022: Harrogate Town 2 – 0 Bradford City
22 Feb 2022: Bradford City 1 – 3 Harrogate Town

Spoiler: Historic Results Analysis

Well this should be an easy synopsis!

Bradford City have lost all 4 encounters with Harrogate Town since their first meeting in the 20/21 season, and results worsened in the 21/22 campaign. While initially losing their newly-contested fixtures by a single goal, last season saw Harrogate Town win both goals by a 2 goal margin – the largest to date.

Jack Diamond has been the star of the show so far, with the then-on loan winger notching 3 goals across all 4 fixtures, which is more than Bradford City have managed in total. Andy Cook and Matty Foulds have notched 1 apiece in a disastrous series of fixtures.

The question now is, can Bradford City finally get a point on the board against their North Yorkshire rivals, or will Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver continue to weave his magic?

Harrogate Town 2022/23:

Goals have been increasingly hard to come by for Harrogate Town, having drawn 3 consecutive blanks. It gets worse though: Harrogate Town have scored just once in their last 6 games across all competitions. That goal, a penalty converted by Luke Armstrong, came just before half time in a losing effort at Sutton United – a game they were already trailing 2-1 before George Horbury was giving his marching orders.

Worse, Harrogate Town have been stuck in a deficit regarding efforts on goal for some time. In all of their last 7 fixtures, Harrogate Town have managed fewer shots than their opposition – and have most often conceded the majority of possession in addition. Harrogate Town's worst run in front of goal saw them manage just 2 shots on target across 3 fixtures – Barrow (Away), Newport County (Home), and Sutton United (Away). 1 of those 2 shots on target was the aforementioned penalty.

Since then, Harrogate Town have picked up just 1 point from 3 games, although in truth both Salford City and Stevenage had to rely on last minute winners to avoid what could otherwise have been 3 successive 0-0 stalemates.

Perhaps, then, Harrogate Town aren't on quite such poor form – particularly defensively.

While possession and shots on goal (not to mention goals) will be top of the agenda for Simon Weaver's side, they have proven difficult at times to break down. Defender Joe Mattock has consistently topped the charts for the number of tackles and interceptions in recent games, while goalkeeper Peter Jameson, a Summer signing from York City, has also excelled.

Striker Luke Armstrong is very much Harrogate Town's main attacking focus, though all of Josh Coley, ex-Bantam Matt Daly, Jack Muldoon, and Alex Pattison have topped the 'Shots on Target' statistic for Harrogate Town – indicating that Harrogate are quite capable of sharing out their chances – even if they have been limited lately.

In terms of possession stats, Harrogate Town have swung from a low of just 32 % at home to Salford City to a high 66 % at home to Newport County – a fixture that Harrogate Town lost 4-0, with all 4 of Newport's shots on targets beating Peter Jameson – a particularly uncharacteristic statistic. However, most commonly in games, Harrogate have conceded the majority of possession.

Currently 19th in the League Two table, Harrogate Town will feel hard done to in terms of recent results, but there's no question they need to improve their offensive output. Having scored just 6 goals all season in the league (3 of which came in the opener against Swindon Town), it's been a miserable campaign so far for Harrogate Town fans – and perhaps the most miserable statistic of all is that Harrogate Town have scored in just ONE of their opening FIVE games at Wetherby Road – again, that 3-0 win over Swindon Town to kick off the season. Since then, nothing.

Bradford City will hope that continues this Saturday, even if goals prove hard to come by for themselves as well.

Bradford City 2022/23:

Bradford City's run of 3 straight wins came to a halt at home to AFC Wimbledon, as The Dons managed to end their own 4 game losing streak. In truth, AFC Wimbledon were unlucky not to walk out winners after turning around an early 1-0 deficit to lead 2-1 going into stoppage time – but it was then that substitute Vadaine Oliver finally opened his Bradford City account with a header from Matty Foulds' cross.

Relief, then, for Bradford City – but the nature of the point earned will have left manager Mark Hughes with plenty to ponder ahead of his side's trip to North Yorkshire this weekend – including who to start up front, the red hot Andy Cook (who failed to score) or Summer signing Vadaine Oliver, who will seek to build on that dramatic equaliser.

Fellow forward Lee Angol will look to do the same, having played a key role in the passage of play leading to Oliver's first Bradford City goal, as the forward's output has been disappointing thus far this season.

It's now a considerable length of time since Bradford City have suffered defeat in the EFL – the 16th August, no less, when Colchester United saw a goal in 90+7' bag them all 3 points, a sickening note on which to send the Bantams home. Since the Harrogate Town fixture takes place on the 1st October, that now means Bradford City have managed to make it through the whole of September without tasting defeat, and the 7th placed side will hope to extend that further into a second month.

Sitting 4 points off the automatic promotion spots, though, Bradford City will not want to be held to a stalemate (or worse) this weekend.

Recent Highlights:

Stockport County 0-0 Harrogate Town



Harrogate Town 0-1 Stevenage



Bradford City 3-0 Stevenage



Bradford City 2-2 AFC Wimbledon



Outlook:

Good news for Mark Hughes involves the return from international duty of Republic of Ireland U21 winger Tyreik Wright, who suffered Euro 2023 play-off disappointment having missed a penalty against Israel to see his nation eliminated from the competition, while fellow loanee Scott Banks is out. Liam Ridehalgh remains absent, while Romoney Crichlow is back in contention.

Wright, in particular, will be a welcome sight for Bradford City fans after his superb individual performance in the 3-0 win over Steve Evans' Stevenage side – a goal and an assist did for the League Two high flyers, and Mark Hughes will be hoping the Aston Villa loan man can produce something similar against a stubborn Harrogate Town defence. He will be one of the favourites to unlock The Sulphurites back line, while all eyes will be on whoever starts up front out of Andy Cook and Vadaine Oliver.

One more player Mark Hughes can welcome back will be right back Brad Halliday, returning from a one game suspension. The former Doncaster Rovers and Fleetwood Town man was a notable absence as the out-of-practice Luke Hendrie managed only a lukewarm performance against AFC Wimbledon.

He will be a key component of a defence that will be desperate not to allow Harrogate Town the chance to end their goalless run in front of goal, and also eager to end the perfect run of results that Harrogate Town have enjoyed over Bradford City.

Odds:

5-2: Harrogate Town
23-10: Draw
23-20: Bradford City

Predicted Outcome (THE VOICE):

Harrogate Town 0-2 Bradford City