County take on the form side in League Two this weekend, as we travel to Mark Hughes’ Bradford City looking to bring an end to our recent away woes, in front of an expected crowd of over 20,000.
Despite what Dave Challinor described as County’s best performance of the season last weekend against Walsall, a late equaliser from the visitors denied us the chance to leapfrog The Saddlers in the league table as we instead dropped down to 19th place.
A first win of the season for Hartlepool United on Tuesday night saw them climb out of the relegation zone at Crawley Town’s expense, meaning we now sit three points above the bottom two and 11 points off a play-off spot.
Despite defeat on penalties to Leicester City U21s in the Papa John’s Trophy in midweek, Bradford are currently unbeaten in seven in League Two, winning four and drawing one of their last five games to sit top of the form table.
Tyreik Wright’s goal 17 minutes from time secured a 2-1 win away at Harrogate Town last weekend, a result that leaves them in fourth place heading into this game – five points off the automatic promotion places, with a game in hand on both Northampton Town and Stevenage.
Our Opponents:
After a five-year spell in League One came to an end with relegation in 2019, Bradford have yet to finish in a play-off spot since returning to the fourth tier and finished last season in 14th place, their second straight season in the bottom half.
Hope has been rekindled at the University of Bradford Stadium however, following the surprise appointment in February of former Manchester City and Wales boss Mark Hughes. Prior to his appointment, Hughes had never managed a Club outside of the Premier League, but took charge of a side sat 15th in League Two following the sacking of manager Derek Adams.
Whilst the end of last season fizzled out for the Bantams, the former Manchester United and Chelsea striker has overseen a major Summer overhaul at the Club that has raised the expectations of their supporters, resulting in over 14,000 season tickets being sold ahead of the new campaign.
As many as 22 players have been brought in during the transfer window as Hughes set about building his own squad, and despite a slow start to the season that saw them win two of their first six, the side have really begun to hit their stride in the last few weeks. The Yorkshire side haven’t been beaten in the league since August, as their promotion bid gathers pace.
One to watch:
Key to their unbeaten run in recent weeks has been the devastating form of former Tranmere Rovers striker, Andy Cook. Having scored 12 goals in League Two last season, the 31-year-old is already well on his way to beating that tally, having scored nine goals in just 11 league games this season.
Only Northampton man Sam Hoskins has scored more than him in League Two this season and with six goals in his last five games, the forward is coming into this game in arguably the form of his career.
