On Saturday afternoon at three we face Gillingham, one of our bogey teams so to speak if you look back over our recent results against the Kent based club, who are one of the better clubs in this division. After securing an away point at Millwall last time out, which could have been three if Nicky Laws last minute effort snuck in instead of hitting the frame of the goal, the Bantams will be looking to return to winning ways at the Priestfield against Justin Edinburgh’s men.
After suffering from a copious amount of injuries over the last few week, Stuart McCall has given his thoughts on this weekend’s squad selection and has confirmed that every first team player at the clubis currently back in training with the exception of central defender Nathan Clarke though he is pencilled in for a return on Monday to full training. New deadline day loan signings Haris Vuckic and Marc McNulty are also both in contention for this Saturday’s trip down south.
Getting back key players could cause Stuart McCall quite the headache albeit a nice one at that. After our outstanding start to League One this term it will be difficult for the gaffer to drop most of the players that have featured thus far however rotation of the starting line-up could still occur. This weekend’s match against Gillingham could come too soon for the trio of James Hanson, Tony McMahon and Rory McArdle despite all three training this week but I still expect McCall to freshen up the team come 15:00 on Saturday. Despite playing impressively thus far, young midfielder Daniel Devine could make way for the return of Josh Cullen after his international call up with Ireland whilst up top, Vuckic and McNulty could be in line for their first appearances for the Bantams.
As for the opposition, well Gillingham have made an indifferent start to this term in League One shall we say. Sitting in eighth position currently with ten points from a possible eighteen, the side from Kent have suffered highs and lows during the opening weeks of the league season. Picking up seven points in their first three matches the Gills looked strong once again in the league but after that they suffered a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Scunthorpe before losing to Sheffield United live on Sky Sports on Sunday thanks to a last minute Billy Sharp penalty. The Gills have enjoyed success in the EFL cup however as they beat Premier League outfit Watford 2-1 last time out.
Despite their recent form though, Gillingham have a very strong squad at this level. In Cody McDonald and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas the Gills have bags of goals in them up top whilst behind those two sits arguably one of the division’s best players in Bradley Dack. Last season’s League One ‘Player of the year’, Dack finished with 15 goals and 11 assists however according to BBC Radio Kent the talented midfielder could miss this weekend’s tie against The Bantams due to a recurring knee injury which is positive news for us to say the least..
Gillingham too signed former Bradford midfielder Billy Knott this summer after he was released by Phil Parkinson at the end of last season. The now 23 year-old made a total of 64 appearances during his two year stint with the Bantams scoring 3 times including that absolute cracker in the cup against hated rivals L***s. Although I hope he doesn’t have his best game at the weekend for obvious reasons, I wish Billy the best of luck for his future with Gillingham.
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