By Jason McKeown

The rain swirled and the bitter cold seeped through the multiple layers of clothing, but it was worth every shiver, every bout of of teeth-chattering, to watch Bradford City return to the top three, this time clasping a stronger grip on an automatic promotion place. It was worth risking hypothermia to have the heart warmed by Alex Pattison’s sizzling strike, which was enough to win this close contest. And it was worth enduring a slow soaking from the windswept drizzle to be there to see the Bantams achieve something they’ve not managed in 57 years.

Because here, Accrington became the eighth visiting side in a row to leave Valley Parade with nothing. Eight successive City wins on home soil, a feat not managed since the 1960s. Not too many people present for this will be old enough to remember those 1967/68 accomplishments. And I doubt they’ll mind the rest of us getting to experience something no Bantams side has accomplished in our lifetimes.

But it’s not the kind of history that, ultimately, counts. Promotion is what really matters. This was City’s game in hand and they made it meaningful. By defeating Accrington they rise above Doncaster into third, going level on points with second-place Notts County, and only seven behind the faltering leaders, Walsall. It is worth noting that Wimbledon’s 3-0 thumping of Crewe elevates the Dons to fourth, just one point behind City with a game in hand. But unlike two weeks ago, the Bantams will this time spend more than 24 hours sitting inside the automatic places. They now have a spot, and it’s theirs to keep hold of.

The sense of achievement at full time here outranked the level of entertainment we’d witnessed in reaching eight-in-a-row and a top three placing. This was the third 1-0 home success on the trot and, out of them, definitely the hardest watch. Accrington came along in a 3-4-1-2 that turned the game into a war of attrition, where for long periods not much happened. A mere 11 shots on goal (two on target) from both teams combined says much about the slow fare at both ends.

City can hardly argue they played well, and this is a slightly concerning recent trend. They’ve now taken part in five consecutive 1-0 games, and though they’ve come out on top in four of them, they’re relying on fine margins which might not prove sustainable. Still, right now they effective at being effective enough. Edging opponents if not steamrolling them. And the increasingly promising picture means these are shaping up to be truly exciting times.

Exciting is how you describe what it’s like watching Alex Pattison right now. Here he lit up a drab encounter with a stunning goal. A thunder-cracker. The 27-year-old was 35 yards out from goal when he received the ball from Bobby Pointon after Richie Smallwood’s short corner. Pattison had time. Pattison had space. Pattison took aim and, wow, into the back of the net the ball flew. Another goal of the season contender to rival those sensational strikes from Andy Cook and Jack Shepherd earlier in the campaign. It was extra special that, this time, the wonder goal was scored at the Kop end. It was also a fifth goal in Pattison’s last nine EFL starts. What a big player he is proving to be.

As ever with City goals at the moment, part of the fun is to trace its origins back to how quickly the ball was initially worked up the pitch, and how successfully the high press approach proved in keeping it there.

This time we rewind the clock a couple of minutes. Sam Walker and Aden Baldwin kept trading passes in their own penalty area, hoping someone in a rigid Accrington set-up would engage and break their shape. Kesley Mooney eventually took the bait and went to close down Baldwin, Smallwood suddenly ran back to make himself an option and was played into space. The City skipper quickly sent a long ball to Tommy Leigh. The former Accrington man held it up well and City were in. The ball was switched to Pointon who won a throw in. From it, Tyriek Wright set up Pointon to charge into the box. His cross was blocked for a corner. The corner from which Pattison struck. 

Just good, organised, methodical play all round. Pattison takes the headlines – and boy did he deserve them – but this City team are a highly functioning, well-drilled machine. The players working in rhythm and with a clear sense of purpose. Even with starting line ups tweaked to keep things fresh in the midst of a fixture logjam, everyone who comes in knows their role and does it well.

This is especially true at the back. Conventional wisdom used to be that you never swap your centre halves. But rotation is happening here more than anywhere else in the team. Callum Johnson came in for a full league debut here and he did great. This saw Baldwin switched to middle centre half in what felt an inspired move. Baldwin’s ball-playing skills and confidence to dribble out front the back really suited the spare centre back role, and he gave City a different dynamic that especially helped against rigid, defensive-minded opposition. 

Baldwin’s bursts forward and release of the ball higher up the pitch allowed City to get round a congested Accrington midfield that attempted to squeeze Smallwood and Pattison and make it difficult for Brad Halliday and Tyreik Wright to be the transitionary power they can be in switching defence to attack. City’s front three were a little more isolated than usual, with Calum Kavanagh touching the ball just 16 times in the hour he played. Accrington – and potentially any watching scouts of opposition teams due to play City soon – will note the success they had in stopping the Bantams from being the force they can be. And that Pattison’s long-range stunner aside, the home side didn’t really look like scoring.

But with that goal, City had something to hang onto. It gave them less concern about the struggle to break down Accrington’s defence. Fewer reasons to fret over the game’s slow, stop-start tempo. They’ve been in this type of winning position so often of late, and knew how to manage the game with as little drama as possible. Once again, the subs played their part in giving City fresh energy when they needed it. Smallwood delivered another captain’s performance and set the standards.

There was some drama, with both sides hitting the woodwork – though in both cases it was more by accident than design. Sub Alex Henderson ran at the City defence and hit a shot from the edge of the box that may have been going wide before it hit Jack Shepherd and deflected onto the crossbar. Late on Jamie Walker attempted a cross that didn’t hit its intended target, but did loop onto the top of the bar. Ultimately Stanley didn’t have a single shot on target in the second half. Their best moment of the night was drawing a superb save from Sam Walker at 0-0. Walker had another good game that suggests he’s over a slight mid-season dip in form. He’s now conceded just one goal in over 11 hours of football.

You hoped City’s defensive solidity would give them a greater a platform from which to win games more convincingly, especially with four of their last six league games coming against teams in the bottom five. But while City are regularly finding the back of the net, they’re not grabbing hatfuls of goals. Leigh started this one ahead of a rested Antoni Sarcevic and once again did not wholly convince. In fact, there is a nagging concern that – Romoney Crichlow aside – none of the January signings have made their mark so far. The question of how City will cope without Cook has so far generated encouraging signs, but these narrow scorelines do leave the Bantams susceptible to ultimately missing their prolific top scorer.

Still, a win’s a win and the incredible home form goes on. 39 points from 16 games is now officially the best record in League Two. In fact, the only team in the 92 to have picked up more points on their own patch is ‘beloved’ neighbours Leeds United, who have 41 Elland Road points.

Before this game, City had already surpassed the landmark of picking up more points on home soil this campaign than the entirety of last season. With victory here, they’ve now officially bettered their 2022/23 play off finish season points haul of 37 home points – and there are still seven Valley Parade games left to play this campaign. City’s best home points tally since the millennium is the 47 they earned up in League One over 2015/16 – Phil Parkinson’s last campaign at the helm. Heck, if you want to go back even further, in the famous 1998/99 promotion to the Premier League season, they managed 49 points on home soil. That seems an entirely catchable target right now.

And comparisons with 1998/99 do have a lot of value right here. That season was the only time in the last 39 years the Bantams achieved automatic promotion from a division. Then, like now, they suddenly ascended from the play off pack to the automatic places, following a strong burst of form over late December, January and early February.

There was a game back then that – a bit like this Accrington contest – sticks out in the memory of upping the stakes and cranking up the nerves. A Tuesday night encounter against a mid-table Crystal Palace that was City’s game in hand, where a win would put them four points clear inside the autos. But the Palace game proved no walk in the park. The visitors took the lead, and you feared City would blow a big chance. They didn’t play well, but equalised and won it through a Peter Beagrie penalty, three minutes from time. As we collectively held our breath, willing Beagrie to score that crucial spot kick, you realised the tension and significance of the evening was on a different level to anything seen all season. Suddenly, you could see the prize, and that City had a wonderful chance of earning it. The rest of the season was a nerve-wracking, anxiety-inducing ride.

Back in the modern day, this Accrington encounter lacked that same level of drama, but as the visitors pressed for an equaliser in the closing stages, the nerves and tension grew inside the stadium. Another big prize was in City’s grasp, but it was all on a knife-edge. One slip, one moment of switch off, and it could all be ruined. It was too cold to take the gloves off and bite the nails, but this was a preview of the feeling that you both hope and dread is to come.

Because by winning here and going above Doncaster with 16 games to play, City now have to be taken seriously as automatic promotion contenders. They are in fabulous position. Top of the form table for the last 12 games. Only two months ago they were languishing in 11th, eight points off the top three. They’ve bridged the gap, overtaken the chasing pack, and now they’ve just got to keep going.

What’s greatly helped City’s propel up the league is the fact seven of their last 10 League Two games have been played at Valley Parade. Because away from BD8, they’ve not been so hot. City have the division’s 14th best away record – with just 14 of their 53 points earned on the road (26% of their overall points total).

They have just three away wins, two of those coming against sides in the bottom three and the other at a 15th-placed MK Dons side who are having a disappointing season. City have just two points from fixtures away at sides in the top half of the table, with the defeats at Walsall, Notts County, Wimbledon, Grimsby and Fleetwood having the potential to prove costly in the long run. City have got to start bringing their brilliant EFL Trophy away form into the league, and they have got to start doing it now.

Three of the next four games are away – including a trip to promotion rivals Salford – and so these next few weeks should tell us a lot more about the Bantams’ top three prospects. Looking further ahead, they still have to go to Port Vale, Chesterfield and Doncaster in the run-in. The visit to South Yorkshire is City’s penultimate match of the campaign. It could prove to be a huge game.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, and that’s dangerous. So for now, it’s about Newport on Saturday, who have picked up 13 points from their last five games, and who have won eight of their 14 home games. County are midtable still and – if City are going to last the distance in the automatic promotion race – these are the kind of games they have to be seeking to win.

There is no let up now. City have produced wonders in recent weeks, and eight home wins on the bounce is something to cherish. But as they rise up the division, so to do the expectations. You don’t work hard to get into this position to then let it slide. The plaudits they’re rightly earning at the moment will mean nothing if they don’t maintain this momentum.

It’s a weak league. It’s wide open. And City have a really strong chance of earning automatic promotion from it, 40 years on from their Third Division title triumph of 1984/85. It’s time to strap in and brace ourselves for an exciting final third to the season. Because this is a tremendous opportunity to bring to an end six years of languishing in the bottom division. To rise again at last.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2024/25, Accrington Stanley, BCAFC, League Two