This Saturday afternoon sees us travel to Swindon to take on the Robins in another difficult League One encounter. After beating Northampton 1-0 in an emotional match on Tuesday night, the first home match since Bobby Campbell's passing, the Bantams head into this clash with renewed confidence.
Score lines have been mixed over the last three matches for the Bantams. With a truly emphatic 4-0 win against Rochdale at Valley Parade two Saturdays ago things were looking even better in our promotion bid. It was the seasons stand out performance for us in my opinion and in truth it could have been a lot worse for Rochdale if we were more clinical in front of goal.
A week later we travelled down to Southend and had 'one of those days' where nothing seemed to go right for us. 3-0 was very flattering score line for the Essex side but it exposed our frailties as in my opinion the squad went into the match without the attitude that was needed to go and get a result down south. It was wholly complacent in general but you can bet that Stuart McCall was the first person to realise that and let the players know about it!
Skip forward to Tuesday night and we grabbed an easy 1-0 win against Northampton. If we're being critical again it should have being a greater margin of victory in all honesty. We played round the opposition with ease. A win is a win though in football.
We need consistency if we're going to challenge at the top of the table this season. We have a fantastic squad at our disposal; Stuart McCall has made a great start during his second spell at the club and the crowds still flock to Valley Parade for every home match in their tens of thousands. Consistency is key and is needed in order to gain promotion this season, simple as.
Again this week we sustained no new injuries to the first team squad. Tony McMahon is making his way back into first team contention too after he skippered our U23s side in their win over Rotherham this week. I'd expect McCall though to go with the same side who started against Northampton on Tuesday night.
Two points above the League One relegation places our opposition on Saturday Swindon Town have largely struggled so far this season. Two weeks ago the Robins made the bold move to appoint former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood in a Director of Football role at the club. His involvement within the club is being questioned however. Joining manager Luke Williams in the dugout as well as taking the pre-match team talk when the side faced Charlton, is his presence at the County Ground really helping or hurting the Swindon squad? Football isn't the place for confusion and from the outside looking in there seems to be a lack of clarity on his role at the Wiltshire club.
With only 5 wins in 19 League One matches this term, it's safe to say that Swindon are performing below par. Winning just once in their last five league matches the Robins are both struggling in front of goal and at defending their own. With big losses coming against Scunthorpe and Rochdale, who they lost to 4-0 just last week, the Robins have conceded 28 goals in League One despite the best efforts of skipper and central defender Nathan Thompson. Swindon have been kept off the score sheet in five of their games this term.
Opposition view...
I asked Benjamin Wills, writer for TotalSportSwindon, for his opinions on Swindon's performance so far this year, where he expects the club to finish come the end of the season and for his prediction on this Saturday's match versus the Bantams.
"Swindon Town’s season so far has been a frustrating and disappointing one - the talent is there, I still do not think the squad itself is one that, by name, should be lingering around the bottom four.
The problem however is that only three players (Raphael Branco, captain Nathan Thompson and Jon Obika) are over the age of 25 (all 26), so as soon as Swindon concede one goal the young heads drop and it spirals downwards rapidly. This is best demonstrated by the fact every league match Swindon have won this season has been by keeping a clean sheet.
At this stage, the hopes are just avoid relegation, which it should not be but morale is that low around the club at the moment.
Tim Sherwood's arrival as ‘director of football’ (who happens to do a lot of managerial duties) brought about it optimism and a 3-0 win over Charlton but two losses and a draw since with eight goals conceded has ended that positive feel around the club.
Swindon just need to keep the heads above water until January and hope Sherwood brings in the right men in the transfer window, and then kick on, that is the plan, anyway.
I am predicting a 2-0 Bradford win at the County Ground on Saturday."
This should prove to be another challenging test on the road for the Bantams. With another all-round team performance like those recently against Rochdale and Northampton though then another three points is a realistic ambition on Saturday afternoon.
