Both sides come into this game with back-to-back wins in their previous two. Let’s take a look at our hosts
In the Dugout
Former Stoke City boss Mark Hughes began his management at Wales in 1999 whilst he was still playing. He came close to qualifying for Euro 2004 but would move on to Blackburn Rovers where he stayed for four seasons. Hughes would go on to manage Manchester City, Fulham, QPR, Stoke and Southampton. He joined Bantams last month, his first job outside the Premier League.
Hughes gives his thoughts on the game tomorrow “We’re going up against a team now who are obviously playing well at the moment, scoring goals, so it won’t be easy. They’ll try and stop what we’re good at. There’s a lot of intelligent football people at this level, they would have looked at our recent games and will, as we speak, be trying to formulate some sort of gameplan to stop us”.
Man with the Armband
Irishman Paudie O’Connor captains Bradford. He spent his youth career in Ireland, notably Limerick where he made his professional debut in 2015. He impressed in a trial for Leeds United in 2017 joining the U23s. He made his debut for the club in the Championship against Sunderland in 2018. He went out on loan to Blackpool and Bradford before signing permanently for the Bantams.
The centre-half has taken over captaincy duties after Niall Canavan moved to Barrow in January. He has made 41 appearances this season in all competitions scoring three, picking up nine yellow cards and one red. O’Connor’s last goal came against Salford where he grabbed a late winner in a 2-1 win in mid-January.
Star Man
Forward Andy Cook spent his youth career at Carlisle United but never made an appearance for them. Instead, he went out on loan to Workington and Barrow before joining the Bluebirds permanently. The 31-year-old went on to play for Grimsby Town, Tranmere Rovers, Walsall and Mansfield Town. He joined Bradford on loan in January 2021 and signed permanently that Summer.
Cook has made 34 appearances this season in all competitions, scoring 11 goals making him the Bantams top scorer so far. He has also grabbed two assists. His last goal came last weekend away to league leaders Forest Green as he sealed an impressive 2-0 away win in the 96th minute.
Last time out and recent form
Bradford have won twice and lost three in their last five games. The three defeats all came at home against Harrogate Town, Mansfield Town and Swindon Town. As previously stated, they won on the road at Forest Green and later travelled to Hartlepool United on Tuesday night.
A quiet first half with no goals in the opening period. Matty Foulds opened the scoring on 70 minutes to give Bradford the lead before Yann Songo’o doubled the margin six minutes later which saw the Bantams take all three points.
