The Voice - Match preview League One Playoff Semi-Final: Bradford City vs Bolton Wanderers Thursday 14th May 2026 8:00pm

Did we have a corner last night that cleared the first defender?
And as for those short corner routines in the second half.... bloody laughable!

 

Our set piece routines are woeful....struggle to beat the first man, played too close to keeper (and nobody on him), or a short corner routine that ends up back to the CBs into the centre circle. Who is that fella we employed to elevate our set pieces? I dont like to see anyone lose their job but he seriously needs scrutinising.

 

And last night was our 4th play off defeat on the trot...Millwall x2, Carlisle and Bolton.

 

N

Not sure Ashby flopped,he just never got the chance,even after he had a good game he would then be left out.

 

When we talk about the January window as success or failure, the bar is pretty high if we're expecting someone to walk in and shut a player of Neufville's quality out of the first team in the middle of a successful season.

That would require an actual Championship quality player with full fitness and serious adaptability.

Looking at Ashby as an indicator strikes me as unrealistic.

He came in and did a job as cover. I wouldn't say he was a failure. Joe White on the other hand...

 

As dark horses, I fancy Mansfield to have a good season.

 

I don't think Jackson gets enough credit.

It's notoriously difficult to acclimatise to the way GA wants us to play - look how long it's taken T.Wright before the penny dropped.

That's why January has had far more failures than the summer window.

So Jackson comes to us, starts well (Peterborough were amazed by his performance) and gets injured - before he's really got used to us.

However, he looked far better on injury return than Sarc did, i.e. unlikely to be at his very best.

I think the 'boot camp' pre-season, will see an even better player. You need his type at the top end of L1.

 

Blimey, where do I start after that? Obviously, I'm delighted we got through, but what a game and what an atmosphere. I always suspected that if we kept a clean sheet in the first half, then the tension in the home crowd would get to the players, but I be fair, that didn't seem to happen.

Your performance was typical Alexander, but I think on the night, he got it wrong. Chasing a game, you have to gamble and I think he left it too late. Just two long range efforts in the first half, both way off target, wasn't good enough. There was a spell in the second half where you looked like you'd equalise, then possibly kick on and win it, given the momentum had shifted so much, but you just didn't put our keeper or makeshift back line under enough pressure or don't have the quality up front to do that. I did think you were lucky to finish with 11 on the pitch, that scything kick when the ball wasn't in play was straight up violent conduct, but overall, the ref wasn't too bad for once.

On a positive note, I think you're just three decent signings away from a great season starting in August. Your fan base is huge and I'm sure you'll be there or thereabouts next May, perhaps alongside us again. Stockport are a bogey side for us, but it's one huge match and anything can happen.

Nice to see some really classy comments from your fans on SM today, it's how football should be.

Good luck with your transfer window!

 

Agree when we look back on the two games like it or not they scored twice through our poor defending, even the chance when the lad hit the post from was because of a mistake by Tilt, and unfortunatly Baldwin couldn't get enough on his clearancelast night, over the two legs they looked a very comfortable team with the ball, but not a patch on the likes of Lincoln or Cardiff.
I've not heard Schumachers post match interview but it will suprise me if he doesnt say we gave them two very close games, unfortunately it wasn't to be, I'm not going to criticise any of the makeshift players Alexander has used as our out and out striker but like it or not its that position that has been a major problem since December.
As the saying goes " keep the faith guys" you know the rollercoaster ride you'll get supporting Bradford City CTID.

 

Agree. Jackson was good and I like the look of Ashby, think there’s a lot more to come from him. I wouldn’t be disappointed to see him sign permanent.

Sibley and White are definitely questionable, however on paper Sibley could have been a useful. For whatever reason it didn’t happen. I mean if respectfully, but White almost felt like an add on to Ashby.

Mullin I still battle with was he under used or did he under deliver on the pitch and behind the scenes. We’ll never know - no point spending time stewing on it.

 

Exacty my comment to the grandson at the end of the game, I think most know what Humphrys has to offer little workrate with the occasional worldy, yet our game is built on graft, not for the first time we saw him enter the fray with 30 minutes plus extra time and for me he didnt look interested, you can see why he's had so many clubs, there is one thing knowing players have limited talent but when you see a player who has, to me it's a waste, obviously he's still under contract but as you know Kev clubs can make it known a player is available.

 

A massively frustrating player. The stage was set for him last night to come on and change the game, but unfortunately he was a massive let down once again.
We can't afford to carry luxury players like this going forwards in the hope that they will give us that 1 game in 10 moment.

 

Larry Grayson position Dave

 

I don’t think the combo together are an issue , rather , it’s just two in the middle whereas three in the middle means we don’t get passed through so easily , hence Lapslie doing a decent job recently.

If the wingbacks are nullified who supports the middle ?

Hard to explain perhaps?

 

Humphries is too frustrating for me. He's got the talent for sure but he's one of those players that does the hard part well then fecks up the easy bit, passes when he should shoot, shoots when he should pass, always wants another touch etc. The general demeanour of not being interested doesn't help either, especially in a team of work horses. Question is, can we get players with his talent without the frustrating crap that comes along with it for what we can offer? Is it worth tolerating his downsides to at least have someone who might produce a bit of magic? Even if he does it 5 times a season, that could be difference between 5 points and 15. I am undecided honestly, but I think another one we need to think about before we make a rash decision.

 

Had chance to think a little on yesterday and have to say I think we were unlucky.

A couple of the key moments went against us. As simple as that.

Baldwin getting his touch right, T Wright's deflected going wide and Jackson being (miles) offside were all nearly moments that went against us as well as their goal in the first leg.

We probably don't create enough clear cut chances so there are still things to work on but we battle and build pressure.

I really hope we can build on what we have especially with a bit of turnover of squad players in the summer and some decisions to make.

 

I saw a still this morning of their keepers save from Power. Who is stood back flat footed watching, far less agitated than a fan? Yes you guessed it .

 

Great season, disappointing result last night. Felt like Bolton had us at arms length for the majority of both legs and deserved their victory.

Feels only right to applaud GA and the squad for this season. We have punched way above our weight consistently and maintained a playoff challenge despite being significantly under resourced compared to most of the competition.

Hopefully we can push on next season and build to challenge again. It doesn’t feel like major surgery is needed as we saw in the last year, we’re just lacking a few quality additions to supplement the solid foundation we’ve built.

 

Class.