Spotlight on the Opposition | Bradford City

In the Dugout

Derek Adams joined the Bantams this summer after leading Morecambe to Sky Bet League One via the playoffs. He has two spells at Ross County from 2007 to 2014 having an assistant manager role at Hibernian in between. He left Scotland and moved to Plymouth Argyle and later Morecambe before joining Bradford City.

Adams on Bradford’s squad before the game “We’ve got players who are capable of playing there, we’ve got Theo Robinson going back to his old team in Port Vale. He’s in a rich vein of form, three goals in his last four games and we’ve got players back from injury. So, we’re getting stronger as the weeks go on which can only help us”.

Man with the Armband

30-year-old centre-back Niall Canavan captains the Bantams after joining the club in January of this year. He was born in Leeds and started his youth career at Bradford before moving to Scunthorpe. He made his professional debut for the Iron in the 2009/10 season who were a Championship club at the time. He later moved to Shrewsbury, Rochdale and Plymouth before re-joining Bradford.

Canavan has made ten appearances so far this season receiving no cards. He has not had any goal contributions but has managed one clean sheet in the ten appearances which was in the opening game of the season away to Exeter City which finished as a 0-0 draw.

Star Man

Midfielder Elliot Watt began his youth career at Liverpool before moving to Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers. He never made a professional appearance for Wolves but made his EFL debut for Carlisle United in 2020 where he was on loan. He made a permanent move to Bradford in 2020.

Watt has made 19 appearances this season scoring and assisting once. The assist was picked up in the last league game against top of the league Forest Green Rovers. He’s picked up four yellow cards meaning he is one away from a suspension.

Top Scorer

Striker Andy Cook is currently top of the scoring charts at Bradford with seven goals in 18 appearances. In his last appearance he netted against top of the league Forest Green Rovers in a 1-1 draw. His best performance of the season came at home to Stevenage when he scored a first-half hat-trick in a thumping 4-1 win.

Last time out and recent form

In the Bantams last five outings they have drawn three games. The other two resulted in a loss and a victory. Their loss came at home to Hartlepool United who had not won away up until that game but ended up with a convincing 3-1 win with two goals coming from ex-Valiant Mark Cullen.

Three draws came against Forest Green in the league, Exeter in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the Papa John’s Trophy. They were victorious against Swindon in an impressive 3-1 away win.

Bradford’s last game was a 1-1 draw with Sunderland. Former Vale striker Theo Robinson scored the opener on 36 minutes before Nathan Broadhead equalised in the 56th minute. The game remained level but Bradford did secure an extra point by winning the penalty shootout. Unfortunately for the Bantams they finished bottom of their group.