The Voice - Match preview #27: Lincoln City vs Bradford City Tuesday 27th January 2026 7:45pm

EFL League One Fixture #27
Tuesday 27th January 2026 19:45
Lincoln City (2nd) vs Bradford City (4th)
Sincil Bank

Record:
Games Won: 33
Games Drawn: 23
Games Lost: 29

Last 5:
01 Jan 2011: Lincoln City 1 – 2 Bradford City
01 Feb 2011: Bradford City 1 – 2 Lincoln City
15 Sep 2020: Bradford City 0 – 5 Lincoln City [EFL Cup]
31 Aug 2021: Bradford City 0 – 3 Lincoln City [EFL Trophy]
28 Oct 2025: Bradford City 0 – 0 Lincoln City

Lincoln City:
Lincoln City’s season has gone from strength to strength, the Imps having now gone 10 games with defeat in League Two and having opened up a 6 point gap over the trio of Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City and Stockport County. Still chasing down league leaders Cardiff City, Lincoln City will now look to consolidate the automatic promotion spots further with a victory over a Bradford City on their shakiest form of the season.

Last Thursday’s 2-1 victory over Burton Albion piled the pressure on those below them, a pressure only Bolton Wanderers managed to meet with a victory at the weekend (2-1, Leyton Orient H). Bradford City succumbed to a 1-0 defeat against 10-man Huddersfield Town (the sixth and final side in the promotion as it stands) in a miserable performance, while Stockport County were held by league leaders Cardiff in a 1-1 draw.

Further to current form, there are real reasons for optimism for both Cardiff and Lincoln as things stand. Two of the top three scoring sides in the division, behind only Huddersfield Town, the Bluebirds and the Imps also top 6 defensive records – a combination of quality that none of the sides chasing them can boast. While Huddersfield Town can claim top spot in terms of firepower, their defensive record leaves a lot to be desired; for Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City, while their defensive record is equal to that of Cardiff and Lincoln, their goalscoring prowess is nowhere near. Goal Difference lays it all out: Cardiff and Lincoln are the only teams with a positive stat in double figures, and well into double figures with +19 and +15 respectively.

So how have Lincoln managed it? Well, there’s no outright goalscorer among their ranks; Reeco Hackett (6) is the club’s top league scorer this season, but he’s backed up by a string of players with similar tallies. Freddie Draper (5), James Collins (4), Rob Street (4), Adam Reach (4) Tendayi Darikwa (3), Sonny Bradley (3), Jack Moylan (3) and Justin Obikwu (3) all have more than 2 goals each, representing a full 9 players. While Obikwu has since moved on to QPR for a £500,000 fee from his previous parent club Coventry City, all 8 of the other Lincoln City players mentioned above remain in situ. And as if by way of apology for taking their on-loan forward, QPR have since loaned Lincoln City their own young striker Alfie Lloyd, while left back Josh Honohan has arrived from Shamrock Rovers for an Undisclosed Fee, and Deji Elerewe recently completed a switch from League Two high flyers Bromley for another Undisclosed Fee.

Crucially, nobody has left Lincoln City so far in this transfer window, suggesting manager Michael Skubala is keen to keep things as stable as possible – something Bradford City fans might be beginning to wish they’d done after watching multiple experienced players leave and results deteriorate.

One statistic of particular interest might be that Lincoln City have the lowest possession rate in the entire division, combined with just the 16th highest xG rating. The biggest overachievers in front of goal in the division with a +0.33 “xG vs Actual” rating, one might argue that Lincoln City’s present standing could come under threat if their efficiency in front of goal begins to drop, but there’s little sign of that with Lincoln City looking extremely clinical. It’s a good job, too, as the Imps’ good run has been predicated on out-scoring the opposition: in their 10 game unbeaten league run, they’ve managed just 2 clean sheets – against bottom side Port Vale and bottom half Barnsley to be specific. That means the other 8 opponents have all scored against the Imps, but in spite of that none of Cardiff City, Stockport County or Huddersfield Town in the current top 6 could beat them – picking up a combined 1 point.

Skubala’s Lincoln City will, then, fear little from a Bradford City side recently demoted to 4th having been swallowed up the playoff peloton after a relatively poor run of form. They won’t be taking this game for granted, however: it’s not in Lincoln City’s DNA at present – and having had two extra days rest and preparation time having played on Thursday instead of Saturday, you can bet they will be up for this opportunity to further cement their automatic promotion credentials.

Lincoln City 2 – 1 Burton Albion


Luton Town 2 – 2 Lincoln City


Bradford City:
Having lost just 2 of their first 17 league games this season, Bradford City have now tasted defeat in 4 of their last 7, representing a dramatic departure from their extremely impressive start to life in League One. The Bantams’ away form, too, has slipped: 3 defeats in their last 4 games on the road is a painful reminder that Graham Alexander’s side have consistently struggled away from home – even in a successful promotion campaign last term, the Bantams’ offerings on the road were consistently mediocre.

While the ‘Away’ league table still makes for impressive reading with City sat in 7th, there is a sense that the momentum is beginning to ebb away. That’s arguably natural amid such a tough run of games against some of the best (and most expensive) sides in the division, and there’s a case to be made that City can still turn things round from mid-February onwards with a run of games against sides sitting mid-table or lower. But that will scarcely be a comfort ahead of an extremely tough trip to Sincil Bank this Tuesday evening…

Graham Alexander’s decision to ring the changes in terms of squad personnel will already be coming under scrutiny. Andy Cook has already got off the mark for new club Grimsby Town despite having not yet made a start, while Alex Pattison has slotted straight into the first team for Walsall and helped them grab 4 points from a possible 6. Both good quality senior squad players, there’s a case to be made that they could have perhaps played their part for City, with City looking particularly toothless in the dismal 1-0 defeat to rivals Huddersfield Town. That the Terriers went down to 10 man did change the momentum of the game, but City rarely looked like punishing their West Yorkshire neighbours, and in truth deserved nothing from the game.

Players like Captain Max Power and influential centre back Curtis Tilt were both well off-form, while Joe White had a full debut to forget alongside the equally ineffective Bobby Pointon, with both young attacking midfielders withdrawn at half time. The influx of loan players speaks to an attempt to bring in a higher quality of player, but it doesn’t feel like the club can afford them too much to settle in. None of White, Ashby or Sibley have made much of an impression so far, and while none of them should be written off, it’s also not been the impact that has been required. Defeats to Cardiff and Huddersfield in games the club really couldn’t afford to lose have hurt, especially considering the poor performance at Town; the 3-0 hammering at Mansfield Town that preceded it now looks less of an anomaly, too.

There’s no time to sulk though, or for the players to lick their wounds. Another game against a top League Two side beckons with a bang on-form Lincoln City ready and rested ahead of a huge Tuesday night fixture is, again, must-not-lose territory. But has Graham Alexander got the strength in depth or the quality at his disposal to stop the rot with a morale-boosting result? That remains to be seen, but it’s looking less and less convincing that he’s now more reliant than ever on less experienced pros in games with such huge implications.

Huddersfield Town 1 – 0 Bradford City


Bradford City 1 – 2 Cardiff City

 

Prediction:
When Huddersfield Town’s Marcus McGuane was issued his marching orders for a quite frankly brainless challenge for a second yellow card, Bradford City fans felt they had been gifted a lifeline; but in truth, they never looked like earning a point and certainly didn’t deserve one. It was a shocker. That the scoreline was as tight as it was against free-scoring Huddersfield Town was the only positive, but in truth the Terriers could have been 3-0 up at half time.

We move on, though, to high-flying Lincoln City on a 10-game unbeaten run in the league. While the hard stats suggest Lincoln City are well deserving of their top 2 slot with superior hard stats across the board to the chasing pack, soft stats like possession rate and xG aren’t nearly as complimentary to Skubala’s outfit. While possession itself can be argued to be a junk stat, xG is harder to ignore – generally speaking xG can inform predictions for future runs of form, for better or worse, and Lincoln City’s xG simply isn’t very good. Their defensive xGA stat, also, not very good; the club are 16th on both predictive metrics, representing a fairly huge overachievement so far this season.

Still, the Imps are doing something right, and they’re doing that something right now, as none of the top clubs they have faced have had an answer save perhaps Luton Town who rescued a point despite going 2-0 down inside 22 minutes. Cardiff City and Stockport County both lost 2-1, while even upward-bound Peterborough United (now 9th in the table) were hammered 5-2 at Sincil Bank – with Lincoln achieving just 32.4% possession.

All of that said, though, that ruthlessness was not on display in an open game at Valley Parade earlier, where the sides draw 0-0 despite having 11 and 13 attempts on goal respectively. With both teams uncharacteristically unable to score, it might have been that their styles cancelled each other out. Like Lincoln, Graham Alexander’s Bradford City are hardly reliant on keeping the ball at their feet yet have still scored at a decent clip, although the Bantams seem to have gone backwards in terms of their own efficiency having scored just 4 goals in their last 5 league fixtures.

The distribution from the back has come in for significant criticism of late, and while that’s a natural feature of a more direct side such as Bradford City, it simply has to be better than it’s been lately. Drastic improvements will be required on Tuesday evening, and it’s perfectly possible that City bounce back with an inspiring performance – but it just feels like City have lost their way a little bit in terms of tactics and strategy.

The pick, unfortunately, will be a 2-0 win for Lincoln City, in a game that I think might lack a bit of quality overall. I do suspect both sides cancel each other out for the most part, but with Lincoln simply riding a crest of a wave, I see no reason their success doesn’t continue.

Final Score:
Lincoln City 2 – 0 Bradford City