The Valiants return to Sky Bet League One action as we welcome Bradford City to Vale Park on Wednesday evening.
John Brady’s side come into Wednesday night’s game in Burslem following a historic 1-0 victory over Sunderland that saw Vale reach the FA Cup Quarter-Finals for the first time in 72 years. A Ben Waine goal in the first half was all that separated the two sides on Sunday.
The draw saw the Valiants be drawn against Premier League giants Chelsea, with the tie due to be played on Easter Weekend.
Post Sunderland Thoughts
The gaffer's immediate response to FA Cup progression:
“Overall, I’m a little surprised at the moment. We’re through against a Premier League side and we put the players out how we wanted to play and they’ve gone and delivered it.”
Our Opponents
Just like the Valiants, Bradford were promoted from League Two last season, finishing in 3rd place. Prior to this The Bantams had been stuck in League Two for six seasons, despite them reaching the play-offs in 2023. Bradford have a storied history within football, winning the FA Cup back in 1911 and then securing promotion to the top flight of English football in 1999 and staying there for two seasons.
Wednesday’s visitors currently sit 4th in the league, twelve points behind Cardiff City in the automatic promotion spots. The Yorkshire side have had a good first season back in League One and are looking to gain back-to-back promotions this time out.
City come into the game on Wednesday off the back of a 2-1 win at home against Leyton Orient, where an Antoni Sarcevic double secured all three points.
The Opposition Dugout
Graham Alexander is the man in charge at Bradford. The Scotsman was appointed manager in 2023 and has gone on to take charge of 134 games, winning 67 of those.
Alexander's coaching career began back in 2011 when he was assistant manager at Preston. His first managerial role came a year later, when he was appointed manager of Fleetwood Town. Since then, he has had spells with Scunthorpe, Salford, Motherwell, MK Dons and now Bradford City.
Prior to his managerial career, Graham had a playing career of over twenty years, making just shy of 700 club appearances and 40 international caps. The former right-back began his career at Scunthorpe before making the move to Luton Town. Graham would spend the majority of his career with Preston, playing over 400 games for them. Controversially, Alexander made the switch across Lancashire to Burnley, where he made his Premier League debut.
Player to Watch
A player for Vale fans to keep an eye on is forward, Bobby Pointon.
Pointon is one of Bradford’s most influential players this season, scoring eight goals, whilst also contributing with one assist. The 21-year-old has already beaten his tally of goals from last season.
Fixture Throwback
Port Vale 2-1 Bradford City, 24th April 2021
The Valiants met Bradford City at Vale Park in 2021, where an action-packed first half saw Vale come out on top.
Vale did find themselves 1-0 down fifteen minutes into the game when Clayton Donaldson fired home from close range, leaving Scott Brown with no chance.
However, just two minutes later, Darrell Clarke’s side found an equaliser through Theo Robinson. A delicate ball into the box from Luke Joyce was controlled and finished calmly by the striker.
Shortly after this, Vale were awarded a penalty when Nathan Smith was deemed to have been fouled by a Bantams defender. Tom Conlon stepped up to take the penalty, side-footed his effort into the middle of the goal to give Vale the lead, and what would turn out to be all three points.
