The Voice - Match preview #24: Bradford City vs Grimsby Town Saturday 4th January 2025 1:00pm

EFL League Two Fixture #24
Saturday 4th January 2025 13:00
Bradford City (9th) vs Grimsby Town (8th)
University of Bradford Stadium (AKA Valley Parade)

Record:
Games Won: 31
Games Drawn: 19
Games Lost: 20

Last 5:
09 Sep 2023: Bradford City 1 – 1 Grimsby Town
10 Oct 2023: Grimsby Town 1 – 2 Bradford City [EFL Trophy]
01 Apr 2024: Grimsby Town 1 – 1 Bradford City
13 Aug 2024: Grimsby Town 1 – 1 Bradford City [EFL Cup]
31 Aug 2024: Grimsby Town 2 – 1 Bradford City

Grimsby Town:
A run of 5 straight away league victories from late September through to mid-October has set Grimsby Town up nicely in the ‘Away’ league table, where they currently occupy 5th place with 6 wins, 1 draw and 5 defeats. It hasn’t been such a pretty story as of late for the playoff hopefuls from Cleethorpes, however, as back-to-back away league defeats against strugglers Swindon Town (3-1) and Accrington Stanley (3-2) has put a slight dampener on the seasonal period for the Mariners.

At home, their record has been much improved with 3 victories in their last 4 games, including a 3-0 thumping of Port Vale, and back in early December, a 5-2 thrashing of the aforementioned Accrington Stanley. The story of Grimsby Town’s season overall can perhaps be told by one particular statistic, made clear by a cursory glance at their results this campaign: it’s been almost all wins and losses, with only 1 stalemate across more than half a season! A record of 12 wins, 1 draw and 11 defeats with no real consistency to be found (a 3 match winning streak is their longest positive run, while their various losing skids have been limited to just 1 or 2 defeats at a time). It’s very hit-or-miss stuff from David Artell’s side, and, similar to that of the Bantams one place below them in the League Two table perhaps, shows that even fairly average results can often be enough to challenge for honours in this particular division.

Few are likely to claim that either Grimsby Town or Bradford City have done anything out of the ordinary this campaign, yet we are facing down a veritable 6-pointer with both sides scrapping to break into the top 7. Both teams are well-positioned to make a move for promotion in the second half of the season, and find themselves 3 and 5 points off the automatic spots respectively. In other words, it’s all to play for!

Another aspect of Grimsby Town’s season that is very, very average is their Goal Difference. -2 might not be the expected return from what remains a potential promotion campaign, yet alarmingly only 4 sides have a worse defensive record than the Mariners – the relegation-threatened trio of Morecambe, Accrington Stanley and Swindon Town, as well as 18th place Newport County who have managed to keep their heads just above the waterline throughout the first half of the season.

Beyond those sides, Grimsby Town are the worst defenders in the division. The other side of the coin is they are also the 5th best attacking side in terms of goal output. Their tally of 35 scored across 24 league games has been a fine counterbalance for their poor defending, with those goals shared out across the team rather than being attributable to a particular forward. Danny Rose, former Mansfield Town teammate of Andy Cook, is their leading scorer with 6. Coventry City loanee Justin Obikwu (4) is next highest scorer despite making just 5 starts and 4 substitute appearances this season, with all of Jason Svanthorsson, Harvey Rodgers, Kieran Green, Jordan Davies and Luca Barrington on 3 apiece.

Despite that, Danny Rose has started just 2 of Grimsby’s last 7 games, and that’s despite signing a contract extension as recently as October that will keep him at Blundell Park until the end of the 2025/26 season. Perhaps Rose has been ‘kept fresh’ for a game such as Saturday’s – but if that is the choice, David Artell could be accused of taking his eye off the ball for the Accrington Stanley game this past New Year’s Day, with Stanley running out unlikely 3-2 winners and avenging that 5-2 hammering from earlier in the season.

Quite what team selection we do see, then, and quite how the Jeckyll-and-Hyde Mariners perform this weekend is anyone’s guess. So far this season, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason behind their form either home or away.

Accrington Stanley 3 – 2 Grimsby Town


Grimsby Town 3 – 0 Port Vale


Bradford City:
Bradford City’s most recent outing ended in a 2-2 stalemate against Barrow, their second draw against the Cumbrian minnows this season, but the biggest news coming out of that game was a serious-looking knee injury to talismanic hitman Andy Cook. Now the joint second top scorer in League Two with 12, Cook’s agony after a challenge from Theo Vassell as early as the 4th minute was plain for all to see. The hardy Durham native tried to walk it off but lasted just 2 further minutes before being withdrawn, much to every Bantams’ fans chagrin.

The good news is, City’s heads did not immediately drop. Lewis Richards gave City the lead with a well-worked goal, before criminal defending from Aden Baldwin allowed Andy Dallas the chance to level things up from the spot. Emile Acquah then out-muscled and out-paced Neill Byrne to add a second through goalkeeper Sam Walker’s legs, before substitute Clarke Oduor came to City’s rescue with the scruffiest of equalizers on the 86th minute. It was a much-deserved point overall, but an equally disappointing one against a shot-shy and off-form Barrow side.

Now it’s all about regrouping and getting behind one of their other forwards – all of whom have been low-scoring to date. Calum Kavanagh is perhaps most likely to get the nod up front, especially after Oliver Sanderson’s indifferent showing on Wednesday afternoon, while Vadaine Oliver hasn’t been seen in any capacity at all since being named as an unused substitute against Swindon Town back on December 14th. It’s not exactly an embarrassment of riches, but thankfully Cook’s injury has been timed alongside a more modest goal return from the rest of the team. 6 of City’s 8 most recent league goals have been scored by someone other than Cook, with Bobby Pointon and Antoni Sarcevic chipping in with the goals in their impressive 2-1 win over Chesterfield last Sunday.

Perhaps, then, there is a small silver lining to that Andy Cook-shaped grey cloud. Bradford City have been creating and scoring goals of a decent quality of late, though again none better than Cook’s screamer against Port Vale on Boxing Day. Of concern might be Bradford City’s much more tentative attacking play in the absence of Cook particularly in the second half against Barrow, and that is something Graham Alexander must ensure his side can overcome in Cook’s absence.

The question now is, how do Bradford City respond if Cook is out for a prolonged period? And who, if anyone, steps up to the plate to replace him? One thing is for sure, fingers will be kept firmly crossed for good news as City play their final league game for a fortnight this Saturday. That break mini-break may have come at just the right time.

Bradford City 2 – 1 Chesterfield


Barrow 2 – 2 Bradford City


Prediction:
A Jekyll-and-Hyde Grimsby Town side prepare a raid on a Bradford City side minus their best striker – and arguably, best player. Both teams have been average – or at least very slightly above – all season, but in their own very different ways. Grimsby Town have largely alternated wins and losses all season, whereas Bradford City have endured both extended lean spells and rich veins of form interspersed with several draws.

As it stands, City are on one of their best runs of the season with 3 wins and a draw across their last 5 league games, while Grimsby Town continue to win well then lose badly with little rhyme or reason. Predicting this one is an ordeal, especially as Bradford City have hit 2 goals a game for 3 fixtures in a row, something they had scarcely done all season, but equally will be without their leading scorer. Grimsby Town remain a side implicated in relatively high-scoring games themselves, and a 5-goal affair at Accrington Stanley saw them on the wrong side of a particularly disappointing result.

Will Bradford City try to keep their foot on the accelerator at Valley Parade this weekend (should the game go ahead, of course), and will they indulge Grimsby Town in a higher-scoring affair than we had been forced to get used to for long periods under Graham Alexander, or will we now see a more tentative City side focussed on keeping the scores down?

Frankly, anything could happen, and between both write ups of either side, it seems pointless dwelling on this one too much. All the head-scratching in the world can only bring a very vague approximation of what we’re likely to see, so the pick will be a familiar 2-1 win for Bradford City, a vitally important victory for a side who will want desperately to continue their good form at Valley Parade – with or without a certain striker.

Final Score:
Bradford City 2 – 1 Grimsby Town