We continue the build up to the clash with Bradford City with Tommo’s Opposition Watch.

The fixtures are coming thick and fast at the moment, which is probably a good thing as it allows getting over the last defeat. Unfortunately I’ve been clutching that straw for two games now so it’s about time it changed. And as if we haven’t come across enough red heads recently, it just happens to be Stuart McCall’s Bradford City that we entertain next. 

Bradford made an ideal start to 2008 beating Accrington Stanley 2-0 away and Notts County 3-0 at home respectively. They also picked up points on the road with draws against bury and Wrexham as well as beating Gary Peters struggling Shrewsbury Town side 4-2.

But, encouraging for us, is that bury were the most recent opposition for Bradford and they beat the Bantams 2-1 with Andy Bishop scoring twice, and yes one of them was a penalty. 

This is something manager Stuart McCall was not pleased about to say the least “I've seen few performances as ineffective as that 45 minutes for a long time. The players were gutted about it, but it's their own fault. But it's gone now and we want to move on. We've had a good talk about things and hopefully we've all learned from what went wrong, myself included.”

"Now it's time for us to go out there and put things right. We cannot do anything about what happened and it's how we react to that setback. We bounced back well from our last defeat against Hereford to go on a decent run and it's down to the group of players to do the same."

And one look at Bradford City’s official site would tell you that Mr McCall is still a bit upset about losing to bury now. And who wouldn’t be? “I sat there for a couple of hours after the game and was all for making six or seven changes. I very rarely sleep on Saturdays, anyway even if we win, as I always tend to wake up with different ideas, thoughts and reasons in my head”. 

Bradford striker Willy Topp is another who was left flabbergasted at losing to the Buckets last week “It’s very important that we get three points and I think Rochdale will be more difficult then bury”, started the Chilean. 

“I still don’t understand why we lost to them at home – I can’t say what went wrong. But in this League you can win two games away and then lose at home, it’s hard.” 

But despite everyone in Bradford obviously being a tad upset at losing to our Mancunian neighbours, McCall, like Topp, was more respectful towards his next visitors, “I saw them (Dale) score 4 at Chesterfield and play ever so well and they did the same at Rotherham, who thought they (Dale) were the best visiting team they’d seen all season.” 

“Away from home they are a definite danger and I think it will be an open and attacking game. Rochdale have had a dip and are looking to get out of it quickly so they will be going for the three points as much as us.” 

Playing for the Bantams at the moment, you will recognise names like David Weatherhall, who seems to have been around in football for since forever. Weatherhall was part of the Leeds team that won the old Division One title before the Premiership came to the fore. And has been with Bradford since their first season in the Premiership, and is still a regular in the City team now. 

Other recognisable names are Jamaican international goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts. On loan Hartlepool midfielder Lee Bullock who we were paying a lot of attention to recently. Defender Paul Heckingbottom who made his recent loan deal with city a permanent one. However, the biggest threat I’m told by Bradford fans is Kingston born Jamaican international midfielder Omar Daley who’s apparently faster than, well, any other player in the League apparently. 

Team news for McCall is that the Bantams practically have a full squad to pick from beside Mark Bower who is still a few weeks from fitness. 

So moving on to a more general topic, what do we know about the city of Bradford?  

• Well Bradford is twinned with Mönchengladbach in Germany.
• Morrisons originated in Bradford.
• The Telegraph and Argus is the local paper and is quite decent online too.

 Three famous Bradfordians: 

1)     Kimberley Walsh

2)     Peter Sutcliffe

3)     Gareth Gates 

The Coral Windows Stadium (post code BD8 7DY) is an all seater stadium with a capacity of 25,136.  The Fan’s Guide to Football Grounds book I have in front of me advises that we leave the M62 at Junction 26 and then follow the M606 till it’s end.

Once you reach the end, keep in the right hand lane and follow signs for Valley Parade (Bradford & Bingley) and then there should be plenty of places to park around the ground. 

Once in the stadium all away supporters will be housed in the TL Dallas stand which has a capacity of 1,800. There is also the Midland Road stand which serves as an overspill for the away stand with 500 away fans being able to sit there if need be. 

Prices in the ground are as follows: 

Adults £20

OAP’s £14

Juveniles £12 

So let’s hope that we can bounce back from this dip in form and get back to talking about important things such as the weather in Rochdale and all that instead of talking about why Perkins is not a winger.

Photo: Action Images

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