OPPONENTS: Bradford City Association Football Club
MANAGER: Stuart McCall
NICKNAME: The Bantams, The Paraders or The Citizens
LEAGUE POSITION: 3rd
THE JOURNEY: Valley Parade to Fratton Park – Much like the journey Pompey had to make to Blackburn, it’s over 500 miles round trip, best part of 5 hours each way.
LAST TIME OUT:
* Pompey were outclassed against a strong looking Blackburn side on a soggy day last Saturday. It finished 3-0 which is a pretty fair reflection.
* Bradford’s form has hit a bump in recent weeks, and last weekend their 1-0 home loss to Charlton was a blow but they followed it up with a 2-1 win over Man City U21’s in the EFL Trophy midweek.
POMPEY STATS:
* Pompey’s loss against Blackburn was the first time they lost back to back games in the league since last February. They have not lost 3 on the trot since April 2015 – a run which saw the end of Andy Awford as Pompey manager.
* Despite missing around a month through injury, Brett Pitman is in line for a Pompey return and is only 2 goals off the current top scorer in League One – Rotherham’s Kieffer Moore.
* Pompey have scored in all but 3 of their home games in 2017 and have kept 5 clean sheets in their last 6 wins.
* The Blues have only scored 1 goal in the first 30 minutes of a match this season, and have conceded 6 in the same time.
* Top Scorer: Pitman (9), Hawkins (3), Chaplin/Lowe/Kennedy/(2)
BRADFORD STATS:
* Bradford got off to a great start to the season, winning 8 of their first 12. But the wheels have come off in the last few weeks, as they have only picked up 1 point from their last 9 on offer.
* Prior to their defeat against Fleetwood at the end of September, Bradford had not lost a home game for 574 days.
* Bradford have scored more goals per game away from home than any other team in the League – 15 goals in 7 games (over 2 per game).
* The Bantams have also won more corners per game than everyone in League One (except Wigan). 102 corners in 15 games (6.8 per game)
* Top Scorers: Charlie Wyke (7), Romain Vincelot (4), Dominic Poleon (3)
HEAD TO HEAD (Courtesy of Pompeyrama.com):
* The Blues and the Bantams have met 35 times in their history, with Bradford currently holding 16 victories to Pompey’s 15 (only 4 draws)
* Despite never being too far away from each other in the League pyramid, Pompey and Bradford didn’t meet in the League for 51 years between 1927 and 1978.
* The last time the two sides met was in Pompey’s promotion winning season 2002/03. Pompey won 3-0 at Fratton (Pericard and Quashie x2 – Yes, Quashie actually scored twice in the same game).
* The most recent meeting was at Valley Parade, where Pompey (who had won the League the week before) finished their campaign with a 5-0 win thanks to goals from Festa, Stone, and a Todorov hat-trick which made him the league’s top scorer.
PLAYED FOR THEM:
* Kyle Bennett: Bennett played 18 games for The Bantams while on loan from Doncaster in early 2014.
* Gareth Evans: The versatile Pompey man also had a stint at Bradford, playing 85 times and netting 14 times.
ONE TO WATCH:
* Charlie Wyke – Another one of those names that seems to crop up on Soccer Saturday quite a bit, Wyke had scored 10 goals in 67 games over 4 years while on loan from Middlesbrough. But upon moving to Carlisle in 2015, Wyke found his form. 39 goals in two seasons for Carlisle in League Two saw Bradford come a knockin’, 14 goals in 29 games is his record since his move on deadline day last January.
PREDICTION:
* It doesn’t get any easier for Pompey after back-to-back losses on the road, but hopefully the roar of Fratton will help the Blues overcome some tough opposition. Bradford score plenty of goals, but have also only kept one clean sheet in the last 6, so I expect goals. I’m going for a 4-2 Pompey win, Pitman with a hat-trick and Evans with the fourth.
NEXT 5 GAMES:
Sat 4th Nov – Luton Town (A) – FA Cup 1st Round
Tue 7th Nov – Charlton (A) – Checkatrade Trophy
Sat 11th Nov – Blackpool (A) – League One
Sat 18th Nov – Southend (H) – League One
Tue 21st Nov – Peterborough (A) – League One
FRIPPY’S TEASER:
The last time Pompey played Bradford Gianluca Festa opened the scoring with his first and only Pompey goal. What made this goal extra significant during the final game of the 2002/03 Promotion campaign?
PUP
Written by PompeyFrippy and originally posted in the forum.
Follow @VitalPortsmouth.
2017-18 Prediction League – October
Bradford (h) – Saturday 28th October 2017 – click here.
