The Voice - Match preview Mansfield Town vs Bradford City Saturday 2nd September 2023 3:00pm

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EFL LEAGUE TWO FIXTURE #6

Saturday 2nd September 2023 15:00
Mansfield Town vs Bradford City
Field Mill

22/23 Results:

08 Nov 2022: Mansfield Town 1 – 2 Bradford City
04 Feb 2023: Bradford City 1 – 1 Mansfield Town

Head-to-Head Form: DWLWW

Won: 28
Drawn: 18
Lost: 24

Biggest Margin of Victory:

10 Mar 1962: Bradford City 6 – 1 Mansfield Town

Current Form:

Bradford City: DWLDW
Mansfield Town: DWDDW

MANSFIELD TOWN

Mansfield Town fans will be happy enough with their start to the season, having not lost a game in either league or cup, and boasting a 100 % home record. Victories over Grimsby Town (2-0, EFL Cup), Morecambe (3-0), and Stockport County (3-2) are nothing to sniff at as far as the offerings from Field Mill go, and while they've drawn all 4 of their away games, one of those draws came against Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday Night, and the Stags duly won the resulting penalty shoot out.

If there have been any moans and groans, throwing away a 2-0 lead against Crewe Alexandra in the first game of the season and coming away with a draw (and a red card) is probably chief among them, while the club has shown more resilience in their other away games, coming from a goal down no fewer than 4 times to snatch a further three draws.

Like Bradford City, Mansfield Town have spent more time on the road than they have at home, but their schedule will achieve parity this weekend – whereas for Bradford City, they will have played six of their eight league and cup games away from home. An astonishing statistic.

Going behind has been a particular fault of Mansfield's this season, but Nigel Clough has instilled a real resilience in his players, and their victory this Saturday despite going behind twice at home to Stockport County was well-deserved. Mansfield managed 63 % of possession, and managed far more attempts on goal: 11 on target, and a further 6 off target, to Stockport's 3 on target, 1 off target. Davis Keillor-Dunn is the man on form in front of goal, having notched 5 goals already, while striker Rhys Oates has bagged another 3.

Goals haven't exactly been hard to come by for Mansfield, with 14 goals from their opening 7 league and cup fixtures, a healthy average of 2 goals scored per game – at the other end, while Mansfield did manage a pair of clean sheets in the Grimsby and Morecambe games, they have also shipped a fair few in that time: 8, to be precise.

Such statistics are not entirely dissimilar to those posted by Crewe Alexandra, particularly the free-scoring and the undefeated factors, but Mark Hughes' men were able to shut Crewe down at home, and will have hopes of similarly shackling Nigel Clough's men this weekend.

The bookmakers have duly acknowledged Mansfield's very positive start to the season, installing them as clear favourites to beat Bradford City this Saturday, and that's always likely when you're winning all of your home games. Coming away from Hillsborough with a spot in the EFL Cup third round won't help morale, either, and an equalising goal with just 5 minutes remaining sent Stags' fans into raptures. Goalkeeper Christy Pym then donned his superhero cape with saves from Will Vaulks and Liam Palmer to oust the Owls.

Naturally, this wasn't a game that favoured Mansfield statistically, but nobody in the Nottinghamshire district is likely to lose sleep over that!

Nigel Clough acknowledged that revenge was sweet with that win over Wednesday; last season the Owls knocked the Stags out of the FA Cup with a narrow 2-1 win, with Clough and company feeling particularly hard done to. They've put that right now, though, will similarly seek revenge against Bradford City after failing to win either home or away against the Bantams.

BRADFORD CITY

Field Mill has been a happy hunting ground for Bradford City lately, with 3 wins from their last 3 visits – but Mansfield certainly hadn't enjoyed the run of form at home when the two sides met last season, having registered just 1 win in their previous 6 home games. That's not something Bradford City could control, though, and their perfect run of form this season is just another target for the Bantams to try and shoot at.

Bradford City's EFL Cup triumph over potential promotion rivals Wrexham on Tuesday night came after another 1-1 draw in an away tie in the EFL Cup, and another penalty shoot out win to boot. Wrexham pushed City into sudden death, unlike first round opponents Accrington Stanley, who capitulated at the penalty spot netting just 1. Evidently Mark Hughes has had his City side practising penalties, as his players have found the net on all but 1 occasion!

Daniel Oyegoke was the culprit on Tuesday night, but Jamie Jones saw his spot kick denied by goalkeeper Harry Lewis, and with Luke Young having earlier missed the target, that was enough to send City into the draw for (hopefully) a big club in the next round.

Now for the negativity: Bradford City have not yet won any of their away fixtures this season in either league or cup based on a 90 minute game. 3 draws and 2 defeats have the Bantams as low as 12th in the EFL League Two table, despite their cup success. That's particularly painful given the quite frankly near-unfair schedule that has been handed to Mark Hughes and his players.

6 away games from the opening 8 games of the season is extremely unlucky. That said, City have gone to some tough places like Accrington Stanley (League One last season), Stockport County (promotion favourites) and Wrexham (another promotion favourite), and held their own in each game. Against Crawley Town on the opening day of the season, some questionable officiating had City playing most of the game with 10 men, so that leaves Morecambe as the sole shocker so far.

A 3-0 drubbing at Derek Adam's Shrimps wasn't even particularly flattering to the seasiders, who trounced City and left a red-faced Hughes demanding better from key players such as Richie Smallwood. By all accounts, then, Smallwood has responded positively, putting in a solid shift as a substitute against Crewe Alexandra in a 1-0 win, and again at Wrexham where he was restored to the starting line up in the absence of Kevin McDonald.

Andy Cook was not used at Wrexham, but that didn't stop City scoring after 3 minutes, Tyler Smith converting a penalty after just 3 minutes when Jamie Walker was impeded by Aaron Hayden. Walker, Pattison and Smith each played their part in a fine win over the Dragons, backed of course by their superstar owners. Bobby Pointon made a positive impression off the bench, further cause for optimism for Bantams fans, while Adam Wilson came off the bench (and converted a spot kick) in his Bradford City debut following his transfer for an undisclosed fee from Welsh league side TNS.

Strength in depth now seems to be a bonus for a Bradford City side that have at times looked leggy early on in the season, and who have been accused of underperforming in certain games. The introduction of Brad Halliday, Liam Ridehalgh, and Emmanuel Osadebe into the first XI did nothing to derail the Bantams, as they continued on their EFL Cup course at the expense of former manager Phil Parkinson, who famously led the Bantams to Wembley for the EFL Cup final a full decade ago.

Whether Mark Hughes can manufacture such a feat remains to be seen – but with a few more positive results, what initially looked like a disappointing start to the season could soon become a reasonable foundation on which the Bantams could build their league campaign.

What's more, there's a sense that City haven't really got going. For those of a 'glass half full' disposition, that might be cause for positivity. Bradford City have started this season hard to beat (except in the Morecambe game), and have picked up a couple of decent draws on the road. At home, like Mansfield Town, they're perfect so far. If they improve on that, they will inevitably climb the table.

 

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THE BREAKDOWN

Mansfield Town: 19/20
Draw: 5/2
Bradford City: 14/5

On paper, it looks cut and dry.

Mansfield Town win their home games, Bradford City don't win their away games.

Of course, football is never that straight forward, and just like when Crewe Alexandra visited Valley Parade at the weekend, those naturally expecting a glut of goals for the free-scoring, undefeated away side must have raised an eyebrow at full time as the Bantams recorded their first clean sheet of the season instead.

It wasn't the best game by any means, but it was what Bradford City needed as a response to that abysmal performance on the West coast. Heading to Wrexham thereafter and, in similar fashion to the Stockport County away game, starving their opponents of a lead at any time in the game, is equally impressive. Both sides had to rally back for second half equalisers, as the City defence proved they were no mugs.

A similar performance will be needed at Field Mill this weekend, and there are some indications Bradford City might be able to come away with at least a point. Lucas Akins, Davis Keillor-Dunn, and Rhys Oates are proving a deadly strike force for Mansfield, but at the back the Stags have been much less settled.

Bradford City fans might be surprised to note that former Bantams striker Jordan Bowery is now a converted defender, having started games at both right back and centre back for Nigel Clough, while only Aden Flint has started as many as 6 of 7 league and cup fixtures. The 6'6 former £7 million man was brought in by Mansfield Town in the Summer, and at 34 has the experience to lead the back line – but there has still been a decent amount of chopping and changing, particularly with defender Calum MacDonald getting sent off in Town's opener at Crewe Alexandra.

Goalkeeper Christy Pym joins settled midfield players Louis Reed and Stephen Quinn as ever-presents in the league, while George Maris looks to have won his place back from Aaron Lewis.

Bradford City will want to get at that Mansfield Town defence, then, while trying to put the stoppers on Keillor-Dunn (5 goals from 5 league games), and former Burton Albion teammate Lucas Akins (3 goals in league and cup). Unfortunately for Bradford City, they happen to be Keillor-Dunn's favourite opponents! With an overall playing record of 5 wins, 2 draws and just 1 defeat against the Bantams, the ex-Wrexham man has also netted 3 times. A boogeyman for the Bantams, perhaps?

All of that said, Mark Hughes will have his players focussed and ready to raid Field Mill one more time. A happy hunting ground in recent years, Bradford City will seek out their fourth successive away win in Mansfield, even if it looks a tall order this early in the season.

No doubt many City fans would take a draw right now, but that's not the prediction here. A defeat will give the more pessimistic City fans more cause for alarm, but with a run of games at Valley Parade coming up (Grimsby, Harrogate, Walsall and Swindon all before mid-October), Bradford City could still redeem themselves and establish themselves as promotion favourites once again.

But perhaps not this weekend...

PREDICTION:

Mansfield Town 2 – 0 Bradford City