Notwithstanding the fact that our 3-1 loss at Blackpool could have finished up as a much larger beating than it was, I maintain that our home loss to Bradford in September was our most comprehensive beating of this season so far. I say that because we had the chances to have made the outcome at Bloomfield Road a lot different than it turned out to be while the score was still 0-0, but we were second best for all of the ninety minutes against Bradford.
Therefore, although their early season success came as a big surprise to me, it has not been a shock to see the Bantams maintain their place near the top of the table through to mid January given how impressive they were in inflicting a first defeat of the season on us.
That said, from a distance, it does seem that Bradford’s general level of performance is not up there at the heights we saw from them at Cardiff City Stadium in the last few months and this week the excellent Not the Twenty podcast said that this suspicion was backed up by the stats which showed that the performance of Bradford and Lincoln in recent games had been more mid table than automatic promotion candidates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2N94uRMqUU
Indeed, one of the presenters tipped Bradford to miss out on the Play Offs citing what, on paper, looks a very tough month coming up for them as, besides us, they face matches against the likes of Lincoln, Huddersfield, Luton and Peterborough which could end up with the table looking an awful lot different for them by mid February.
Having underestimated Bradford before, I’m won’t be doing so again and so I see them as almost certs for the Play Offs and genuine challengers for a top two finish. Actually, I would cite Malky Mackay’s title winning City side of 12/13 as an example of a side that largely stopped playing eye catching football around November time, but kept on grinding out results in what was mostly a pretty functional manner until promotion was confirmed – maybe Bradford have been doing something similar in recent matches.?
As for a prediction for Saturday, although I’m not ruling out a City win or draw, there are a few reasons why I think the most likely outcome is a home win. First, we always lose to teams beginning with a B, second, our record of just one win, a lucky draw and three defeats in our first games against sides in the current top six hardly inspires confidence and, finally, I’ve found our performances in our last two away games pretty concerning – we’ll definitely need to be more decisive and focussed on Saturday than we were at Wycombe and Leyton Orient.
On to the quiz then, it’s the usual format with the answers to be posted on here on Sunday.
60s. He began and ended his senior playing career in England with Bradford City and seven years after leaving to end his first spell with them, he wrote and sang a song called Happy Cos I’m blue about the team he was playing for at the time. It seems to me that he was somewhat typecast as a hard man, but you look at the list of clubs he was at and you have to conclude that he could play a bit as well. His managerial career (player/manager quite often) reached no great heights, but took him to Ireland, USA, Stalybridge and back to the USA to manage at San Diego and Las Vegas before he ended up at Keighley Town. He also played international football, winning nine caps and scoring once, who am I describing?
70s. The man pictured below played twenty five times for his country, can you name him?
80s. This midfielder began his career well before a more famous namesake who played in the same position arrived on the scene. He began at Liverpool, but never played a game for them as his debut in senior football arrived while on loan at another club not far away that also wore red. When. he left Liverpool, it was to join Stoke for a short while. He probably enjoyed most success at his next club as he stayed in red to play a part in a giant killing win over Manchester United. Next up were Bradford, but he struggled to make an impact during his season with them when he only just made it into double figures with appearances. His final move in professional football took him back to Lancashire to represent one of the original twelve Football League clubs that had fallen on hard times. He was part of a promotion winning side and got to play at Wembley during his three years with this club before a broken leg brought his career to an end at 30. Can you name him?
90s. Mead lost in the beginning of Hamlet (3,8).
00s. Sixties folkie suffering from bone disease in goal?
10s. His combined total of goals for Cardiff and Bradford of sixteen may not amount to much, but according to Wikipedia, he scored two hundred and eight times in all competitions in six hundred and thirty five appearances and scored more than twenty goals in a season on three occasions. Who is he?
20s. He’ll move in a carefree way.
Answers:
60s. Trevor Hockey played for Bradford City between 1960 and 61 before going on to play for Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Birmingham (where he sang about being Happy Coz he was a Blue), Sheffield United, Norwich, Aston Villa and then Bradford City again. Hockey also played nine times for Wales.
70s. David Bairstow played ten times for Bradford City in 1971/72 as a striker but was much better known for his cricket career. He played in four test matches and twenty one one day internationals for England. He was also a long serving Yorkshire captain.
80s. Robbie Savage played his first senior football for the team from the other Robbie Savage’s birthplace, Wrexham. Spells with Stoke and Bradford were followed by three seasons with Bolton before he had to retire from the game through injury.
90s. Des Hamilton.
00s. Donovan Ricketts.
10s. Eoin Doyle.
20s. Will Swan.
