If you said to me only a few months back that City would be fourth with five games to go this season and sitting only six points behind a faltering second placed Burton Albion side, I would have called you utterly mad. But this is football and as we know anything can happen.
Despite starting the week off a position higher in League One, Tuesday night’s victory for Walsall against fellow play-off rivals Gillingham was enough to push them above us in the standings by a point. That result singlehandedly makes our already big game against Walsall next Saturday at Valley Parade into an almost winner takes all fixture but only if we can obtain more good results against Coventry next Tuesday and more importantly against Shrewsbury this Saturday, both away from home.
Something that’s been praised a lot this season at Valley Parade is how our squad has a lot of depth for the first time in a very long time in my opinion. Parkinson is spoilt for choice in most areas of the field especially now that some of our long term absentees are starting to return to full fitness. The likes of Filipe Morais and Paul Anderson especially could give the Bantams that little bit more quality in these final five League One encounters and maybe in the play-offs too if we finish the season between third and sixth place. Unlike most teams at this level, we’re currently blessed with a lot of different options upfront. In Proctor, Clarke, Hanson and Davies we have four strikers that all seem capable of working with one another which is fantastic as it means we have various strike force combinations that work and cover in case of more injuries.
As for team news it seems that Bradford will be near full strength once again. With Morais back to near full fitness thanks to his two recent substitute appearances for City as we only have Paul Anderson who is still just short of full fitness. As for other players, Kyel Reid is expected to be fit for the trip to Shrewsbury on Saturday despite picking up a knock to his ankle and going off earlier than expected in our recent 1-0 win against Swindon.
As for our opposition, well it’s a bit of a strange one. Normally I keep an eye on every League One result every week but for Shrewsbury I didn’t realise how good of form the Shropshire side were currently in. Despite losing their last two matches 5-1 to Wigan and 3-1 to Millwall, prior to those results the Shrews were unbeaten in eight, picking up four crucial wins in the process. However Micky Mellon’s side are still fighting for League One survival and find themselves only one point above Blackpool and the dreaded drop zone. Like most teams at the wrong end of the table, Shrewsbury Town have conceded a ton of goals so far this term. Sitting on a -16 goal difference the Shrews defence have struggled to cope with some of League Ones better strike forces and have suffered some heavy defeats throughout the course of the season as a result.
Meeting earlier in the season at Valley Parade on the 15th August, Shrewsbury Town managed to take home a hard fought draw thanks to a Tyronne Barnett strike after Billy Clarke had opened the scoring. Our head-to-head record with the Shrews is equally as evenly matched. In our 45 matches against Shrewsbury in both the league and cup competitions, there have been 15 Bradford wins, 20 Shrewsbury wins and 10 draws recorded.
On paper technically this Saturday’s match up is the easiest game we have left in our season however it doesn’t work that way in football and with Shrewsbury fighting for their League One lives, any result here is possible.
Irregardless of whether the Bantams manage to grab second spot from under the nose of Burton Albion or not, an appearance in the play-offs is a lot better than what most were expecting not too long ago. Phil Parkinson and the team have worked tremendously hard over the last few months to get themselves into a position where the outcome of finishing second in League One is still a real possibility. With five games still left to play we already have our most wins in a season and most points in a season since the 1998-1999 Premier League promotion season and that’s an achievement the team and fans alike should be very proud of.