With Stoke City to come in the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday night, Stuart McCall's City prepare for the second of a home triple header this Saturday afternoon when they face Oldham Athletic at the Northern Commercials Stadium.
The Latics were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Preston North End during the week and they’ll be hoping to bounce back when they return to league action at Valley Parade this weekend.
The Bantams, of course, will come into the match buoyed by last weekend's 3-1 win over Coventry City.
Following the departure of previous boss John Sheridan and the release of twenty-six players over the summer, Oldham faced a major revamp ahead of the 2016/2017 campaign.
New manager Stephen Robinson was appointed at the start of July, and his arrival sparked the start of a whole host of in-comings to the SportsDirect.com Park, some of which included former Sheffield United winger Ryan Flynn, centre half Peter Clarke, experienced midfielder Paul Green and Josh Law, the younger brother of City midfielder Nicky Law.
One-time Bantams shot-stopper Connor Ripley and strikers Lee Erwin and Billy McKay have also joined on loan.
The Latics opened the season with a 3-0 defeat at Millwall, a side heavily fancied for promotion this season, they beat Wigan Athletic in the EFL Cup 1st Round a few days later before two successive goalless draws – at home against Walsall and Northampton Town respectively.
Oldham made the short hop to Gigg Lane to take on Bury last weekend and they came out on top by a single goal; Leon Barnett’s unfortunate own goal handed the Latics all three points, their first win in the league this season.
Head to Head:
After going 11 matches without a win against Oldham, City have now won the last three meetings between the two teams. In early September last season, the Bantams travelled to SportsDirect.com Park and secured a victory. Reece Burke scored his first goal in professional football having only recently arrived on loan from West Ham United before Devante Cole scored in the second half after latching onto Billy Knott’s weighted pass. Joe Mills pulled one back for the hosts but City held on for three points.
In the return victory at Valley Parade in January 2016; Tony McMahon’s looping header proved enough for City to complete a league double. The Bantams lost twice at Oldham in the space of just under two months during the 2014/15 season; Jordan Bove’s late winner sent the Latics through in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy before goals from Jonathan Forte and Mike Jones helped them to a 2-1 victory. Andy Halliday pulled a goal back in that one.
Oldham edged a five goal thriller in West Yorkshire in April 2014 to take a significant step towards retaining their League One status. James Wesolowski put the visitors ahead before Middlesbrough loanee Adam Reach equalised for City. Jonson Clarke-Harris scored either side of half time to put his team three-one up before Gary Jones scored a stoppage time consolation.
Team News:
Nathan Clarke remains sidelined with injury and Rory McArdle won’t be fit in time for this one either. Tony McMahon suffered a thigh tear in the last match against Coventry City following a collision with Kyel Reid but James Hanson and Filipe Morais could come back into contention for the Bantams.
Matthew Kilgallon and Stephen Darby edge closer to a return to action but this weekend’s game will almost certainly come too early for them.
Oldham could make some changes to the team that were beaten during the week at Preston North End. Ryan Flynn and Lee Croft were unused substitutes at Deepdale and the two of them are likely to be pushing for a start this weekend. Another who will be looking to come back into the starting line-up is Paul Green, the former Rotherham and Leeds midfielder played the second half of Tuesday night’s defeat.
Referee:
Ross Joyce is the man in charge this weekend and he took charge of Scunthorpe United’s EFL Cup 2nd Round defeat to Bristol City during the week.
He was in charge of the season opening fixture between Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United and dished out eight yellow cards in Coventry City’s goalless home draw with Shrewsbury Town recently.
The last Bradford City fixture that Joyce took charge of was City’s 2-0 victory at home against Southend United in February with goals from Tony McMahon and James Hanson securing the victory.
Betting:
Here are the latest betting odds provided by the EFL's official betting partner, Sky Bet:
Bradford City – 4/5
Draw – 5/2
Oldham Athletic – 18/5
Mark Marshall opened his account for the club with a superb 25 yard strike against Coventry City last weekend. He’s backed at 7/2 to score in 90 minutes.
Coverage:
You can listen to full match commentary on Bantams Player HD with Pulse 2 Matchday Live’s Jason Thornton and Chris Cooper providing it.
You can also follow our live updates via our official Facebook and Twitter social media channels, on there we will also bring you post-match reaction from Stuart McCall, with the full interview as always, available on Bantams Player HD.
You can read our full match report on the website also. If you can’t make it to the Northern Commercials Stadium on Saturday, there’s no need to worry we have you covered!