Bradford City v County: Match Thread (29/12/23)

Blimey, games are coming thick and fast, so it's time to ask who are, pre-season promotion Favourites Bratfut?

Well they underperformed for much of Autumn but have recently had a better run of results so they sit 10th with a record of P 23 W 9 D 6 L 8 F 31 A 30. Their Goals F puts them joint 7th from the bottom, above Walsall (30), Harrogate Town (27), No-Longer Rock Bottom Sutton (27(, Disappointing Donny 26),FGR (22) and Gillingham (19), and level with Grimsby (21).  Their Goals A is better, they are in 6th  after Mansfield 18), Barrow (19), AFC Wombles (24) and County (24) and MKD (28).  They've risen after 4 Ws and a D in their last 5 - which goes to show how below the top 4 or 5 there are a lot of teams beating each and putting short runs together without putting a long run together.

Their H form is modest - W 4 D 4 L 2 F 12 A 11 - which puts them in 18th, compared to County's A record of W 6 D 2 L 3 F 23 A 16, 3rd best in L2.  Let's go through their overall record:  

The Ws are Cole U (h) 2-1, Newport (a) 1-4, Swindon (h) 1-0, AFC Wombles (a) 0-1, Accy Stanley (h) 1-0, FGR (a) 0-3, Gillingham (a) 0-2 and Donny (a) 1-3.  Their Ds are County (a) 1-1, Mansfield (a) 0-0, Grimsby (h) 1-1, Harrogate (h) 1-1, Wrexham (h) 1-1 and Morecambe (h) 2-2.  Their Ls are Crawley (a) 1-0 on opening day, Morecambe (a) 3-0, Crewe (h) 1-0, Walsall (h) 1-3, Tranmere (a) 2-1, MKD (a) 4-1, Sutton (a) 2-1, Barrow (h) 1-2 and Notts County (a) 4-2. 

So there are no real scalps in that list just 2 Ws against top 10 sides and, yes, they have W 4 and D 1 recently but look at who they've beaten in that run and it's fairly modest and puts them firmly in the pack of 9 teams within 5 points on the edge of the playoff zone.

Their top scorer, no surprise, is last season's top scorer Andy Cook, with 10 (last season he had 28), he has previous stints at Barrow (twice), Mansfield, Walsall, Tranmere and Grimsby over more than a decade of lower league service.  After him comes winger Jamie Walker with 5, he had previous spells at Hearts (twice), Wigan and a previous loan (from Hearts) at Bratfut.  Next on 3 apiece come MF Alex Gillead (previously at  Shrewsbury and Scunny, and Striker Tyler Smith.  Two players have scored a pair each and a further 6 players each have one goal apiece.  Bratfut also loaned out their striker Jake Young to Swindon for the season, which is a bit puzzling to be honest, he might make a formidable partnership with Cook....

 There has been a bit of turnover in the managerial position, now held by Graham Alexander (ex MKD, Motherwell and Salford amongst others). He arrived in Nov with a contract until summer 2026, which gives him plenty of time if he needs to, ahem, rebuild the squad.  He took over from caretaker player - boss Kevin McDonald who held the hot seat after Mark Hughes was sacked at the start of October.  At one point Bratfut offered the full-time job to Danny Cowley, who has managed Portsmouth, Huddersfield and Lincoln, and he accepted but then changed his mind.

Summer signings included striker Andy Cook signing a new 3-year deal, veteran D Ash Taylor signed a 2 year deal, he came from Kilmarnock, a couple of spells at Aberdeen, Northampton and Tranmere, MFs Kevin McDonald (ex Exeter City) and Alex Patterson (ex Harrogate) came over on 2 and 3 year deals.  Brentford's RB Daniel Oyegoke signed on season long loan, Wolves' CB / LB Lewis Richards also came on season long etc.  Winger Adam Wilson arrived from The New Saints, having previously spent 4 seasons at Newcastle.

Back on the loan front Bratfut signed Aston Villa Winger Chisom Afoka, Baggy Forward Rayhaan Tulloch, and Canary D Johnathan Tomkinson all on season long etc.  Which makes 5 season long loans in all by my maths.

So all in all yes, they seem to have a good defence, and they should with all those loan Ds, and yes we know about Cook, but they still don't look particularly strong, maybe they could put a good run together and make a real challenge for the playoffs but I'm not sensing anything particularly impressive here and if County actually turn up, which after the first half at Barrow is a big if, and play anything like County should then this feels like a strong candidate for a W.

Anyway, as ever, fingers crossed....

AH: have added your posts to the Match Thread I set up earlier today. Excellent analysis, as ever!