Written by Jason McKeown (images by John Dewhirst)

You can keep your St James’ Park caviar. This is our bread. This is our butter. And it tasted comfortingly familiar to sink your teeth into the latest slice of Bradford City’s remarkable start to life back in League One.

They won. Because of course they always win at home. They stay top of the league, and so provide a pretty perfect ending to a week that will live long in the memory. The final instalment certainly was not a classic. City a long way short of their best. But attempting to smoothly glide back down to earth from the midweek head in the clouds adventure was never going to be easy. What’s important is they did not stumble when there was every reason to fear a fall.

And it all keeps the positive vibes flowing. The latest match winner was Josh Neufville. The City wing back found himself free at the backpost and was picked out by Bobby Pointon. Neufville paused, engineered some space and took aim – with his excellent cross-shot whooshing into the bottom corner. Three league games in a row Neufville has scored now. What an amazing signing he is proving to be.

Graham Alexander would have enjoyed the fact Neufville takes the headlines and scooped the sponsor’s player of the match. The decision to rest him and Tyreik Wright at Newcastle was a surprise, but made more sense here as the pair ultimately made the difference in carving out the victory that really mattered. Neufville and Wright’s freshness was a telling factor in a close-fought battle that City eventually won, though it was touch and go for a time.

Indeed Neufville’s goal – coming six minutes after half time – proved the turning point of what felt like a game of two halves. The first half of it – Before Neufville (or B.N.) – posed a real tactical challenge to the Bantams. Lining up 4-4-2, Blackpool were the type of opponents City so often struggle to master at home. They didn’t exactly park the bus, but kept men behind the ball and squeezed City’s forward players of any space to operate.

Blackpool pressed the Bantams front line but were happy to drop off and allow the home centre halves to have as much time on the ball as they pleased. Hence during the B.N. period of the game, no player on the pitch had more possession than City’s centre backs Matt Pennington (57 touches) and Ibou Touray (51), and midfielder Tommy Leigh (47). It all led to the unusual sight of the home side regularly knocking it around in their own half, struggling to find a purposeful pass to set City on the attack. Are you watching Mark Hughes?

Blackpool’s other tactic was to target the gaps that appear between Neufville and Pennington on the right, and Wright and Touray on the left. So when they won turnovers, they broke quickly and caused problems in the wide areas. At times it looked uncomfortable for City, but by and large they defended well with full debutant Tom McIntyre especially impressing. With the onus on City to attack as the home side, the risk of leaving those gaps for Blackpool to exploit was deemed worth taking.

So a pattern formed at 0-0 of City having lots of the ball – 61% possession, which is not regular for them – but lacking the space and sharpness to create anything of note. No shots on target until Neufville’s goal. Max Power and Touray flashed long-range efforts wide and Neuvfille headed over Leigh’s cross after some excellent City build up. But it wasn’t exactly inspiring first half stuff. And it was a quirky example of managerial lifecycles that – after a midweek Eddie Howe masterclass – we came up against such dogged dourness from an opponent managed by Steve Bruce, the guy Newcastle United sacked so they could appoint Howe.

The visitors started the second half on top, and had three promising attacks on City’s goal in the first four minutes that followed the restart. That only one of these moves ended with an actual shot on goal – a powderpuff Ashley Fletcher effort that was easily saved by Sam Walker – said much about their attacking impotence. Fletcher has famously carved out a career of showing attacking promise whilst rarely looking like scoring. Here he produced a performance of attacking promise whilst, erm, rarely looking like scoring.

And so after those three undernourished Blackpool attacks, City went up the other end and Neufville scored. And that’s when the second part of the game of two halves commenced – what we might called After Neufville (or A.N.).

Because at 1-0 down, Blackpool’s lightweight style of football was in trouble. City had opponents right where they wanted them, and their expert game management kicked in. Truth is Blackpool were absolutely terrible as soon as they fell behind. Now the onus was on them to chase the game and they looked pretty clueless. Blackpool had 60% possession during the A.N. period of the game, but mustered just two shots – neither on target. Bruce would later bemoan the poor impact of his subs. Blackpool came into this game without a point on the road this season. That wasn’t about to change.

With Alex Pattison and Andy Cook brought on for Leigh and Will Swan – who despite returning from midweek injury looked well off his game – City took measured control of the contest. They could have scored more, with Pattison producing a long range effort that Bailey Peacock-Farrell turned away and Neufville hitting the side netting. They were as good as they needed to be, with substitute Neill Byrne producing one important header to stop a dangerous-looking Blackpool attack.

And that really was it. Only a second clean sheet of the season, the result of a performance where City were better defensively than they were going forward. Pointon and Antoni Sarcevic were kept quiet. Leigh solid if not as his absolute best (at full time he had a heated exchange of words with Alexander).

Touray initially struggled with Blackpool’s physicality but he is so calm and assured, ultimately returning to his previous exceptional standards. Pennington had an excellent game against his former club, and how good is it to see Wright rediscover his spark and produce another wholehearted performance? He gets my vote for player of the match.

A special word for Power who is proving to be such a brilliant signing. He really has grasped the Bradford City captaincy, and his personality has transmitted onto the team. Deservedly booked early doors – which means he will miss the Rotherham game – Power walked the tightrope whilst producing an assured, accomplished display that saw him pop up everywhere and set standards for others to follow. Power is full of quality and inspirational leadership. A different player to Richie Smallwood for sure. I think we can now say with confidence that he is an upgrade.

But what we can’t say with any confidence is what this latest victory means for Bradford City’s season. At least, we at WOAP can’t. This was game 10 of their League One campaign. The last time they reached game 10 of a League One campaign as a promoted club (October 2013), they had just defeated Walsall 2-0 away with Kyel Reid scoring a screamer. It left City fourth in the table, with six wins and 21 points. “The hat has been thrown into the ring” was our giddy proclamation. “This is not a side here to make up the numbers, they are here to challenge for a second successive promotion,” we bullishly cheered.

City went onto win just one of their next 21 matches. Oops.

So in this parish we’ll steer clear of making any statements that might jinx the team. City are top of League One. It’s all really exciting. It’s all very intoxicating. But we’re not passing any comment on their ability to stay there, so as to risk giving them the kiss of death. You’re welcome, Graham.

But we can talk about the recent past with confidence. Namely, City’s 100% home record of five wins in five. The latest BD8 success means it’s 25 victories from the last 31 league home games (an 80.6% win rate), going all the way back to March 2024. How many games did it take for City to register 25 home league wins before this run? The answer is 76 matches (a 32.9% win rate). That previous quarter century tally of wins took three years to achieve, and incorporates four different managerial reigns. That says everything you need to know about our incredible Valley Parade return under Alexander over the past 18 months.

And it all meant the day ended with that soothingly recognisable experience of the Kop singing their heroes over the line, of widespread cheers at the full time whistle, and of a sea of happy supporter faces as we filed out of the ground. Let the good times go on.

It has been some week, full of emotion and pride. And crucially City end it looking down on the rest of League One, having parked the whimsical Newcastle cup fantasises, and having successfully acclimatised back into what is proving to be a most wonderful everyday reality.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2025/26, BCAFC, Blackpool, League One