Vital Preview: Bradford City v Wycombe Wanderers

Wycombe Wanderers travel to Bradford City on Saturday for their 28th league game of the season.


The league table currently shows Wycombe in 2nd place with 50 points from 27 games and Bradford in 19th spot with 31 points from 28 games

Bradford's Home Record.....Won 6 - Drawn 1 - Lost 6 - Pts 19 (Rank-14)

Wycombe's Away Record....Won 6 - Drawn 4 - Lost 2 - Pts 22 (Rank-2)


Unbeaten in their last four outings, the Blues face a struggling Bradford side who have collected only a single point in their last six games.

Managed by former Wycombe boss Peter Taylor, the Bantams now find themselves flirting with the relegation zone having been among the bookies' title-favourites at the start of the season.

It's something of a surprise that the Yorkshire giants are so far off the pace, not least because they gave as good as they got at Adams Park in November and were unlucky to lose 1-0 to a late Kevin Betsy goal after playing the last half-hour with only ten men following Tommy Doherty's dismissal.

Well-supported at Valley Parade where the average attendance this season is 10,762, the Bantams have won seven home-games so far - beating Stevenage, Gillingham, Cheltenham, Oxford, Hereford and Bury in the league and knocking Nottingham Forest out of the Carling Cup.

Their present run of bad form includes defeats in each of their last two home-games at the hands of Barnet and Lincoln.

Doherty is still out of action following surgery on his ankle, but his fellow former Chairboys Luke Oliver and Lewis Hunt are both likely to feature in the hosts' squad on Saturday.

Bradford loanees Richard Eckersley and Mark Cullen rejoined their parent clubs earlier this week, while the Bantams' current longest-serving player Omar Daley has signed on-loan for Rotherham in exchange for the Millers' Kevin Ellison.

Wycombe will look to take advantage of the Bantam's low confidence with a ninth away-win of the season, having already triumphed at Stevenage, Burton, Rotherham, Gillingham, Cheltenham and Lincoln in the league, and Hayes & Yeading and Colchester in cup competitions.

Sitting pretty in 2nd place with as many as three games in hand on some of their closest rivals, the Blues are in a healthy position thanks to a superb run of results which has seen them collect 22 out of a possible 27 points in their last nine league games.

Eleven of their remaining nineteen games are away from home, but that shouldn't concern a Wycombe side whose ratio of points-per-game on their travels is the second-best in the division.

Blues' boss Gary Waddock's toughest decision will be whether or not to recall the energetic and combative Matt Bloomfield to play alongside Stuart Lewis in central-midfield at the expense of Scott Donnelly - who scored the equaliser against Port Vale last Saturday.

Big hint: The Bloomfield - Lewis partnership has an unblemished record of 7 wins in 7 games in the league. On the two occasions Bloomfield missed out through injury, the Blues lost 3-0 at Crewe and drew 1-1 at home to Port Vale.

Dave Winfield is likely to return to the side following a two-match suspension, while Jon-Paul Pittman and Scott Rendell are back in contention but will probably have to be content with a place on the bench. Andy Sandell will be out of action for several weeks.



Bradford's last five games (All Competitions)

LG2: Oxford (A)................Lost 1-2

LG2: Aldershot (A)............Lost 0-1

LG2: Crewe (A)................Lost 1-2

LG2: Chesterfield (A)......Drew 2-2

LG2: Lincoln (H)...............Lost 1-2



Wycombe's last five games (All Competitions)

FAC: Hereford (H)............Lost 0-1

LG2: Lincoln (A)..............Won 2-1

LG2: Rotherham (H)........Won 1-0

LG2: Cheltenham (H).......Won 2-1

LG2: Port Vale (H)..........Drew 1-1



Bradford Goal Stats (32 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total)..........Lg: 26...Cups: 6...Total: 32

Goals Conceded (Total)......Lg: 37...Cups: 8...Total: 45

Goals Scored (Home).........Lg: 15...Cups: 3...Total: 18

Goals Conceded (Home).....Lg: 13...Cups: 3...Total: 16

Clean Sheets.....................Lg: 8.....Cups: 0...Total: 8



Wycombe Goal Stats (33 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total)...........Lg: 39...Cups: 11...Total: 50

Goals Conceded (Total).......Lg: 29...Cups: 11...Total: 40

Goals Scored (Away)..........Lg: 17...Cups: 4.....Total: 21

Goals Conceded (Away)......Lg: 13...Cups: 1.....Total: 14

Clean Sheets......................Lg: 10...Cups: 1.....Total: 11



Bradford's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Dave Syers...............8

James Hanson...........7

Omar Daley..............4 (inc 1 pen)

Three other players have each scored two goals.

Seven other players have each scored one goal.



Wycombe's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Scott Rendell............9 (inc 4 pens)

Gareth Ainsworth......7

Andy Sandell............7

Kevin Betsy..............6

Stuart Beavon..........5

Ben Strevens...........5

Matt Bloomfield........3

Three other players have each scored two goals.

Two other players have each scored one goal



Bradford Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Omar Daley............18 on-target...25 off-target...1 against woodwork

Dave Syers............18 on-target...20 off-target...1 against woodwork

Gareth Evans..........17 on-target...17 off-target...4 against woodwork



Wycombe Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Kevin Betsy............17 on-target...35 off-target...2 against woodwork

Gareth Ainsworth....16 on-target...25 off-target...3 against woodwork

Stuart Beavon........18 on-target...19 off-target...1 against woodwork



Shooting (Club) - League Games Only

Bradford......114 on target...141 off target....5 against w'work (Rank-20)

Wycombe....112 on target...150 off target...10 against w'work (Rank-17)



Most Assists

Bradford.....Luke O'Brien...5

Wycombe.....Kevin Betsy...6



League Form Guide

All Season

Bradford......Pld: 28...W: 9....D: 4...L: 15...Pts: 31...Pts per game: 1.11

Wycombe....Pld: 27...W: 14...D: 8...L: 5....Pts: 50...Pts per game: 1.85



Last Five league Games

Bradford.............LLLDL - 1 point (Rank-23)

Wycombe......LWWWD - 10 points (Rank-5)



Last Five League Games (Home)

Bradford..........DWWLL - 7 points (Rank-16)



Last Five League Games (Away)

Wycombe........WLWLW - 9 points (Rank-5)



Against Top Half Opposition

Bradford.......Pld: 15...Pts: 17...Pts per game: 1.13...(Rank-12)

Wycombe......Pld: 14...Pts: 24...Pts per game: 1.71...(Rank-3)



Against Bottom Half Opposition

Bradford.......Pld: 13...Pts: 14...Pts per game: 1.08...(Rank-22)

Wycombe......Pld: 13...Pts: 26...Pts per game: 2.00...(Rank-2)



Previous Meetings

In 10 previous meetings there have been 7 wins for Wycombe, 3 for Bradford and 0 draws.

At Valley Parade there have been 2 wins for Wycombe and 2 for Bradford.


1994/95 LG1: Bradford 2 Wycombe 1

1995/96 LG1: Bradford 0 Wycombe 4

2007/08 LG2: Bradford 0 Wycombe 1

2008/09 LG2: Bradford 1 Wycombe 0



The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Geoff Eltringham from Tyne & Wear who was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2009. This will be his first Wycombe game. During the current campaign he's issued 10 red and 57 yellow cards in 19 games.



Prediction

Bradford 0 Wycombe 1

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