The Voice - Match preview #33: Bradford City vs Rotherham United Tuesday 24th February 2026 7:45pm

I think the problem tonight is it was a game we didn't kill off which would have allowed more subs, when it's in the balance like that it's a risk to make changes especially in the defensive part of the pitch. Ideally tonight we get to 60-70 minutes at 3-0 and you have a bit more freedom to make more subs.
The subs bench is a big of a concern for me as I don't think we have the balance right. When we play with 1 striker we don't need 3 on the bench so for 1 should be dropped and replaced by a natural no 10 but we don't seem to have anyone who is trusted for it, Lapslie has barely featured in squads this season, Joe White is nowhere and I struggle to see him getting minutes and Sibley is the same as White.

 

Huge result yesterday. We now have a 10 point cushion on all our rivals outside the top 6. With only 13 games left it’s going to take a shocking run of form not to finish inside a playoff position.

 

Maybe our boys are not as good as we think they are. They are just hopelessly over achieving. Somehow they are fourth.

In the safety of Valley Parade they battle away no better example than last night. It is frustrating to watch. However our back 3 might not be flair players but they were magnificent and Baldwin - never much noticed him previously - had a storming game. We know the team are only a coach ride away from calamity but it would not be the same if life was too comfortable.

Battle on boys!

 

Sorry for your loss.

 

The result was all that mattered last night and felt we were comfortable, but failed to kill off the game which we really should have done.

Rotherham were relatively decent at times but we managed them well, mainly the back 3 who were solid. Baldwin especially contributing well playing out from the back where some of his distribution was top drawer.

The final third was where we should have been more clinical. Losing Jackson was a shame, he started well. I like Wheatley, his pace, press and movement is going to be a real handful but you can see now he’s still raw. Too many occasions he just needed a little more composure, get his head up and look along the line or read the final defender better. For him that will come with more game time but was not surprised to not see Humphrys (could also have been Mullin) switched when he was. I understand why GA went with Wheatley originally, but wonder if it should have been one of the others.

Agree with @Birky Bantam ideally we would have killed the game off and been able to make more changes earlier. I guess with no game next Tuesday it’s less a problem and you’d expect most to be fresh enough for Saturday.

Finally a mention for Tyriek Wright who again last night I thought was decent. Still see others having a pop at him which I really don’t get. His cross was superb and Pennington’s header was class.

 

Brilliantly timed run by Pennington with real desire to get on the end of Wright's good cross and it was an excellent header. Understand folk not being happy about the rest of the performance but it was an excellent goal.

 

You say that, but our away form is actually ‘a shocking run of form’ which means to reach the play offs we either need to win all 6 of the remaining home games or win 1 or 2 away games.

 

Clearly he meant combined form, thats what counts - you dont get extra points for away wins. Our shocking away form is offset by our incredible home form.

Reading will be tough on Saturday (a pt would be decent to stop the rot) but youd think the pts in away games starts to pick up at Port Vale. I think we will need another 15-16pts minimum from remaining 13 games.

Key thing is to avoid defeat against Reading, Plymouth, Stevenage and Wycombe. Nothing certain though! I do like our remaining fixtures...

 

Rotherham look doomed dont they? Really poor side. They rejected £2m from Bolton for Nombe on deadline day thinking he'd be better trying to keep them up rather than banking the cash...... might have been a poor error.

Gray was nowhere to be seen either. Supposed to be the best thing to come out the Leeds academy in years, but every touch he had was sloppy, every run was predictable (and the ball never came in) and all he did was wretch on the sideline for a bit after Baldwin caught him in the baldwins.

 

2 million?

Really?

 

He looked like he'd rather be anywhere else last night. Dont think our CBs had a particularly stand out game either, they just did the basics well and made their forwards look arse.

 

Yeh he had a poor game but at 17, in a struggling side, he already has more goals than Mullin, Wheatley and Jackson combined!

Jackson is doing bits, Evans has shown moments but the rest of the winter signings look duds IMO. Doubt we see any of them back in the summer regardless of division. One things is evident, we havent really improved our starting 11 after Januarys window. Jackson gives us a nice alternative but thats it....

 

Disappointed he didn’t sub Pointon and Sarce to give them a chance of starting on Sat.

he’s got a ready made excuse to tinker on Sat after not trusting his subs again last night. Rotherham were poor and never looked like getting back into it.

hope jackson’s injury isn’t too serious.

Great cross from Ty, who has boosted confidence after his Doncaster wonderstrike.

Baldwin was brilliant too - he is undroppable now.

Power was a big upgrade on Evans and him and Metcalfe were strong.

 

Awful and boring game to watch. A battling performance by both team. 3 points for us is all that counts. Next up Reading which is a most not lose game.

 

Yeah none are really floating my boat. I love how Jackson came in with Derby and Ipswich fans only really having one common compliment about him, in that he is always fit, never picks up issues.....he's limped off twice at home already Bradfordised him in no time!

I want to know who is teaching out lot to dive lately? Jacksons were embarrassing at times last week against Stockport and Sarce last night just threw himself to the ground 3 or 4 times. I watched it on tele and they replayed every single "fall" and by the last one, the commentator stopped trying to be balanced and just said "well there's absolutely nothing in that one either".

 

The issue is that to win the play offs we have to contend with 2 out of 3 games away from VP !!

 

I thought Gray showed up well in a team very low in confidence. Rotherham look doomed I less they go all in with a new manager, their players lacked guidance from the dugout

 

Tilt's a master at it.

 

Nombe was really poor anyway imho .Gray , just bang average but I can see him doing well in say a couple of seasons, certainly one for the future but not at Rotherham that’s for sure.

 

The defender fell on his knee that was twisting as he hit the deck in the replay . I have a feeling that won’t be a two minute job. I hope I’m wrong.