One game from promotion.

This weekend sees Bradford City v Fleetwood Town in the final game of the season. Tickets for home fans have sold out and League 2 looks set to record another record attendance at Valley Parade. Bradford currently sit in 3rd place and 3 points would secure promotion from the doldrums of the basement league. It’s only a few weeks ago that we saw the Bantams sat proudly at the top of the league, but that didn’t last long, and a spectacular run of results has seen them slip to 3rd. 

Walsall have been just as bad in the recent form table and they sit 1 point behind the Bantams, having held a 13 point lead at the top of the league not long ago. Bradford will be hoping their large fan base can motivate the players for one last push but Fleetwood won’t be turning up just to make up the numbers and I’m sure they’ll be looking to spoil the potential promotion party.

Argentinian Lucky Charm

A 3-0 win over Cheltenham Town in March saw Bradford City set a new record of 10 home wins in a row. Some of these results just happened to coincide with the visit of an Argentinian fan of Bradford City called Ivo. Ivo saw Bradford City beat Chelsea in 2015 and has been a fan since. He came to England and took in some games at Valley Parade and became known as the lucky charm. When he returned to Argentina, the fortunes of the team changed and as he disappeared back to South America, the Bantams chances of automatic promotion were also disappearing. 

Some Bradford City fans mentioned that they needed to get him back over to England for the last game of the season and set up a Go Fund Me appeal. It didn’t take long and there was soon around £900 raised by fans. The total of £1500 was then raised and this week Ivo was back in Bradford and participating in an interview with Radio Leeds. I’m sure you’ve all got match day superstitions, lucky underpants, lucky socks, won’t wash a home shirt until your team loses, but how many of you have an Argentinian lucky charm?

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Often associated with Liverpool FC, the haunting sound of You’ll Never Walk Alone will ring out through the stadium speakers before kick off, followed by a minute’s silence to remember the 56 football supporters that sadly lost their lives back in 1985. It is the 40 year anniversary on the 11th May and the last home game of the season is always an emotional event because of this annual tribute. The emotion of this should not be lost on the players and they will either use this as motivation or they will freeze. 

The contrast between solemn silence and the roar that follows the referee’s whistle to signal the end of the minute silence is always quite eerie and with so much importance on a home win, it will be even more so.

90 minutes to reach League 1

Bradford City will likely line up with their now regular 3-5-2 formation with Halliday (RWB) and Adaramola (LWB) key players to make this formation work. There are a number of options at Centre Back but Baldwin is not one of them, following a red card last week at Doncaster. Captain Richie Smallwood will return to the centre of midfield and there are a host of options to accompany him. Callum Kavanagh is likely to lead the line and there are also options as to which players will support him. 

Home form has been solid and helped them into 3rd place, with recent away form letting them down in the push for automatic promotion. Fleetwood Town sit 16th in the form table of last 6 results (Bradford are 18th) and their last 6 away games have returned a total of 9 points. They sit 14th in League 2 with a goal difference of +1 and 60 points. They beat Newport County last weekend with goals from Patterson and Medley. Ryan Graydon has 13 goals and is their top scorer this season. 

It’s written that Bobby Pointon from the Bradford City academy and now a regular first team player will score the winner in this game. “He’s one of our own” regularly rings out around Valley Parade and there would be no bigger occasion than this for him to seal promotion. 

Prediction

Bradford City 2 – 1 Fleetwood Town

Suggested Bet

Bet Builder:

Pointon to score any time, Bradford to win, over 6 corners.