By any chance is anyone else a little bit excited for Sunday and the start of another Bradford City play-off campaign?

It was only a few months back that Bantams fans were starting to seriously question Phil Parkinson and some of his players as our season was seemingly fading before it had really got going. Although for most of the season we had been sitting just outside the top six, there were some very poor results in the months after New Year’s including heavy losses against Gillingham and Burton Albion and a poor home performance and result against lowly Colchester at the start of March. It really is testament again to Phil Parkinson and his coaching staff that they were able to turn our season around and achieve a fifth place finish in League One this season.

With seven straight wins at Valley Parade we sit in a great position going into our game with Millwall on Sunday especially as one of those wins was in fact a 1-0 victory against the Lions. In those seven home wins we’ve also only conceded just one single goal and throughout the course of this season we have the second best defence in the league, keeping 22 clean sheets in the process. Even going forward of late we look dangerous on all fronts, the strikers, the wingers and Evans and Cullen in central midfield all look capable of scoring and in Tony McMahon we have the player joint top of the assist charts with 13 in League One this campaign.

In regards to team news for City, we have a few injury concerns ahead of Sundays match up with the Lions. Forward Billy Clarke is likely to be sidelined for the whole of our play-off campaign with a fractured cheek bone he suffered during our recent win against Chesterfield whilst James Hanson is struggling with a calf injury. Other than those two concerns we have a full strength squad going into our end of season showdown as Steven Davies is now back from injury himself.

Taking a look back through our short history in the football league play-offs, Bradford have won their last two play-offs finals, in 1996 and then most recently in 2013. Our only blemish came in the form of a defeat to Middlesbrough in the First Division semi-finals during the 1997-88. Phil Parkinson was in charge of our previous final in 2013 when we beat Northampton 3-0 to secure promotion to League One and since then Parkinson and the team have only be heading in one direction, up. Three of the back four who played in the final against Northampton have once again been regulars for us this season, in Stephen Darby, Rory McArdle and James Meredith. The Bantams are now aiming to reach the second tier of English football for the first time since the clubs 2003-2004 campaign.

Millwall like ourselves are in good form of late. As much has been made over our home winning streak, Millwall too have won their last six at The Den. Throughout the season the Lions are the third highest scorers in League One, scoring on 73 occasions and have the 5th best defence in the league, keeping 17 clean sheets in 46 games. Their attack is Millwall’s strongest asset though.

In veteran striker Steve Morison and Halifax old boy Lee Gregory, the Lions possess a potent strike force who between them have 43 goals between themselves in all competitions this term. One of those goals came at the death on Sunday against Gillingham as Gregory struck a 98th minute penalty to secure Millwall crucial home advantage in this play-off tie.

Millwall haven’t had it all their own way though as defender Mehlon Romeo, who was sent off in that match on Sunday versus the Gills, lost his appeal against the dismissal and will be unavailable for his sides next three matches including those two against City in the play-offs. With only one win out of six games against their respective play-off opponents in Bradford, Barnsley and Walsall, Millwall have too struggled against some of the better sides in League One this term. Against City, Millwall drew 0-0 at the Den and suffered a 1-0 loss at Valley Parade only a few weeks back.

The Lions have had a rather up-and-down play-off history, having won promotion once in 2010 against Swindon after previously failing on five occasions, the last of which was in 2009 against Lincolnshire outfit Scunthorpe. The Lions are one of seven league clubs to have bounced back from defeat in the final to win the following year. Interestingly, current Millwall manager Neil Harris himself played in both the 2009 and 2010 play-off finals.

Another massive hats off has to go to James Mason, the board and the chairmen who once again have understood the importance in providing ticket prices that remain affordable at Valley Parade. In England’s footballing society where tickets prices are been constantly driven up by most of the ‘bigger’ English clubs, the Bantams offer a change in mentality on the pricing of modern day football. Following on from the clubs hugely successful ‘£149’ campaign which resulted in more than 18,000 season tickets been sold, a record in the third tier of English football, the club have made the classy move to make adult ticket prices for our home play-off game vs Millwall only £15 for adults and a fiver for kids. I’m extremely proud to be a fan of a football team at the forefront of representing the working class people who made this sport what it is. It’s not done enough by the vast majority of clubs in the English football pyramid..

At least we all support a team whom love the action. With a successful play-off campaign we could have gone from Premier League to League Two back to the Championship in as little as 16 years. That’s a crazy thought.

With the exact same league form over our last 8 matches with six wins, one draw and one loss each, Bradford City vs Millwall should be another fantastic football league play-off battle.