Sometimes football can be extremely cruel and on Saturday afternoon we saw the perfect example of that in Shropshire. In what was probably our most dominating performance of the season we’ve somehow managed to drop two vital points in our battle for promotion and possibly a top two finish in League One.
Firstly you have to look at the positives of Saturday’s result against the Shrews. We took a point from the match, which might feel like a loss at first but away from home against a team fighting for their league one status and for survival, in the past certain City sides would have lost that encounter. Sometimes you just don’t get the luck in football that you deserve and that was certainly the case on Saturday afternoon as a mistake from Ben Williams let Shrewsbury equalise late on. However goal scoring is still a huge problem for the Bantams, only scoring on four occasions in our last six matches and to have 16 shots and gain 17 corners and only put one chance away is poor by any teams standards.
However not all is lost. With Burton Albion who still sit in second place only managing a draw against Barnsley the gap still stands at six points albeit we have one less game to close that margin down now. That draw also meant it gives Barnsley one less game to catch us in our quest for a play-off place. Second spot is still a possibility though especially if we can beat Walsall on Saturday at Valley Parade however just remember that automatic promotion was unthinkable for the majority of this term so enjoy the fact that for once we still have something to play for in the league coming towards the end of the season. With a win for us on Tuesday and anything less than that for Barnsley in their home match against Peterborough on the same night, a play-off place at the least is all but sealed for City.
We move on from Saturday’s disappointing result anyway and look forward to yet another interesting away day this time in Coventry. It doesn’t take an expert to understand that Coventry City have underperformed this term in League One. In the top two for the first couple of months of the season at one point it looked like the Sky Blues possessed the ability to gain promotion with relative ease however that is nothing but a distant dream for the Midlands side now. Now sitting eight points outside the play-offs in 12th position Coventry can still mathematically claim a top six finish but that’s very unlikely considering how few games they have to make up the difference on Gillingham in sixth. However with talents going forward like main striker and Newcastle loanee Adam Armstrong Coventry could easily beat us if we don’t take our chances again like on Saturday afternoon against Shrewsbury.
As for the Bantams it’s the same scenario in terms of team news really. There are once again no new injury concerns apart from a few bumps here and there as it looks likely that Phil Parkinson will once again have a near full strength squad to choose from. Over the last five games now Parkinson has opted to play a largely unchanged side however expect a few changes for Tuesday night’s match as due to our squad depth we have the ability to rotate the starting XI when dealing with two games in such a short period.
Anyway, time to leave Saturday in the past now and once again kick on and try to move further up that League One table!
