Match Preview: Stevenage vs Bradford City

Stevenage return to The Lamex this evening for the visit of Derek Adams’ Bradford City in Sky Bet League Two…

Kicking off at 7:45pm, Paul Tisdale’s men aim for another three points at home, having not lost at The Lamex since the 11^th of December. On Saturday, Boro came from two goals down at Crawley to level the scoring in the final moments and grab a hard-earned point. Bradford, on the other hand, have only won one match in their last five and their most recent fixture ended in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Harrogate Town.

Bradford City were founded in 1903 and were immediately elected into the Football League Second Division. Promotion to the top tier soon followed, winning the title in 1908. The Bantams also won the 1911 FA Cup, which remains the club’s only major honour. The club would go on to suffer several relegations and promotions in the next few decades, picking up the Third Division North title and cup in 1929 and 1939 respectively in that time.

Bradford would go on to pick up another Third Division title in 1985 and fourteen years later, in 1999, the club were promoted to The Premier League after a 77-year absence. The Bantams entered Europe and reached the semi-final of the now abolished ‘UEFA Intertoto Cup’ in 2000-01 but suffered relegation at the end of the campaign. Financial issues soon saw Bradford fall straight down to League Two as they now had to fight their way back up. In 2013 the club reached the League Cup final but fell short to Swansea City in the final.

Bradford now find themselves 12^th in Sky Bet League Two under the management of Derek Adams. So far this campaign, they have won eight out of twenty-nine league games, drawing thirteen and losing eight. Their top scorer is Andy Cook with ten in all competitions.

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Stevenage and Bradford have met on just nine occasions, with this evening’s visitors having the better win-rate. Stevenage have come out on top just twice, with Bradford winning five and the sides drawing twice. This season’s reverse fixture ended 4-1 to Bradford at Valley Parade despite an Elliott List equaliser in the first half. The last time Boro defeated Bradford was in 2014 in Sky Bet League Two, with the score ending 3-2 thanks to goals from Luke Freeman and Francois Zoko.