Bradford City looking to build on Tuesday’s night victory at Stevenage

 

Bradford City will be looking to build a run of wins on the back of  Tuesday’s win at Stevenage and gate crash the League Two playoffs as they host Exeter City. 

Jamie Walker’s 55th-minute strike sealed a narrow 1-0 victory for the Bantams, earning them their first win in three games for Derek Adams side. This will have come as a welcome result for Bradford fans, who have seen their side struggle this season despite being tipped for automatic promotion at the start of the season. Despite high pre-season hopes, the Bantams have only won nine games this season with 13 draws and eight defeats.

A win on Saturday for the West Yorkshire side and a defeat for seventh place Newport against Oldham would take Bradford within 3 points of the Playoffs.

Certainly, the aim now would be to see whether the Bantams can gate crash the playoffs and return to League One. This is a feat they almost accomplished last season under Mark Trueman and Connor Sellars, only to lose form towards the end of the season.

The visitors from Devon extended their unbeaten run t0 five with a narrow win on Tuesday night against Leyton Orient. Cheick Diabate’s stoppage-time goal gave Matt Taylor’s side a win and further cemented their place in the playoffs. A win on Saturday for the Grecians could see them leapfrog teams above them in Mansfield Town and Sutton United. 

Taylor’s Grecians will be desperate to gain promotion following a decade-long stint knocking on the door of promotion for League Two, including three play-off final losses. 

Remarkably, this will be the fifth time this season that these two sides will lock horns, following the FA Cup fiasco that led to the replay being replayed due to Exeter breaching the substitution rule.

Derek Adams will have the same 18 man squad as Tuesday against Stevenage. Dion Pereira and Charles Vernam will return to training next week. Adams also has hope that striker Lee Angol will be back before the end of the season.

For Exeter, Sam Nombe will be vying for a return to starting 11 after recently returning from injury. Alex Hartridge and Offrande Zanzala are expected to miss out through injuries. 

In previous meetings, it is Exeter who have had the upper hand. The sides have met seven times in the 21st century with four wins for the Grecians and two for the Bantams. As mentioned most recently in the FA Cup in the replayed tie of the replay Exeter got the win on that day 2-1 thanks to an own goal from ex Bantam Niall Canavan and another ex Bradford player Timothee Dieng.

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