By Jason McKeown

The huge reserves of credit Bradford City have banked over the past 18 months will be needed right now. This was a derby horror show. A feeble performance that offered only the tiniest crumbs of comfort. This is the last fixture you can afford not to turn up for. And so, for the first real time all season, it’s fair to say Bradford City let their supporters down.

That’s where the bucketloads of goodwill they’ve built up should act as a buffer against the sky falling in. It’s been a season of above-expectation achievements, following a terrific promotion campaign the year before. For so long they’ve been doing us proud. Against that backdrop, a bad performance – even in the derby – deserves quick forgiveness. And indeed, it must.

That doesn’t shield them from a whole heap of deserved criticism. They were dreadful here for long periods. And even with the helping hand of Huddersfield Town’s Marcus McGuane stupidly getting himself sent off, with a third of the contest left to play, they couldn’t rescue themselves from a timid defeat. They trooped off at full time having registered an overall xG of 0.16, which is utterly pathetic.

There can’t really be any complaints. Maybe there’s an argument McGuane should have been red-carded much, much sooner. Just five minutes in, the Town midfielder aggressively pushed over Aden Baldwin and earned a yellow card when other referees may have inflicted stricter punishment. Even then, McGuane had been provoked by Baldwin pushing him first. It was far from a game-shaping moment. It certainly didn’t explain why City were so lacklustre.

And they really were. Right from the start, Huddersfield looked up for it and City seemed apprehensive. There was, of course, the new-manager effect, with Liam Manning taking charge of his first Town game. A fresh start. A new guy for the players to impress. McGuane himself was perhaps the best illustration of that clean slate. The injury-afflicted midfielder came in from the cold after making just one substitute appearance in the league all season, back in August. McGuane was at Bristol City last season under Manning, and the pair also worked together at Oxford. It’s fair to say Manning knew exactly what he could do.

McGuane lined up in the middle of a 3-4-1-2 formation that saw Huddersfield completely overrun City’s midfield. Marcus Harness played as a number 10, ably linking midfield with attack. Town passed with pace and purpose, hunting for chinks in a surprisingly frail Bantams’ armour. Their complete dominance in the opening 25 minutes proved telling – just as Cardiff’s powerful start to last weekend’s victory over City was ultimately decisive.

City clearly need to re-learn to start games better. Town raced out of the traps and Alfie May had a couple of early sighters at goal. His second chance, a one-on-one well saved by Sam Walker, should have led to a Town goal, when Layden Gooch somehow put the rebound wide. The pattern was set. In the opening 10 minutes, Town enjoyed 70% possession. Bobby Pointon had to wait until the 13th minute just to get a touch of the ball.

The chances kept coming. Ryan Ledson shot wide from the edge of the box. Harness blasted over from distance after Joe Wright struggled to deal with a high-bouncing ball and the attentions of Bojan Radulovic. Then came the goal. A Town throw-in was taken quickly, May ran clear of Max Power and delivered a cross. It was met by Radulovic, whose header was brilliantly saved by Walker – but Harness was there to smash home the rebound. No one could dispute it was deserved.

Harness’ goal, 23 minutes in, was already Town’s ninth attempt at goal. At that stage City hadn’t registered a single effort, or even had a touch in the opposition box. They were passive. Insipid. Antoni Sarcevic was absent through injury, and they missed not just his guile but his lucky-charm status. City have won just one league game all season that Sarcevic didn’t start – Wimbledon in August, when he came on as a substitute. Last season, the Bantams lost just two league games when he started. He is so important, and he was certainly missed here.

Going 1-0 up at least satisfied Huddersfield’s early hunger and their pressure eased slightly, with City attempting to plug the leaks by pushing Power deeper to sit on Harness. But it would be stretching things to suggest City improved. Town still looked the more likely side to score again. The Bantams’ first-half pass-completion rate of 56% spoke volumes – almost one in every two attempts to find a team-mate ended with them giving the ball away.

It took City 35 minutes to produce anything resembling an attacking move. And even then, it amounted to a couple of crosses that were meat and drink to deal with. Humphrys looked isolated, with Joe White and Pointon struggling to make any impact. Finally, in the 43rd minute, City managed a first shot on goal. It came from White, and it was utterly tame (it registered 0.01 on the xG measure).

Graham Alexander reacted with a triple switch at half-time. Off went the anonymous right-hand side of Josh Neufville and White, plus the equally uninvolved Pointon. On came Harrison Ashby, Louis Sibley and Calum Kavanagh. Sibley lined up as a number 10, with Kavanagh deployed alongside Humphrys to mirror Town’s 3-4-1-2.

But when, early in the second half, Harness latched onto a mistake from Curtis Tilt to set up May – whose shot was blocked – it was clear the balance of the game wasn’t really changing. Soon after, Joe Low headed wide from a corner, completely unmarked. Defensively, City were miles below their usual standards. Joe Wright and Tilt were especially off the pace.

Just after the hour, McGuane ran past Sibley and saw a decent effort saved by Walker. At that point, the shot count read 13-1 in Town’s favour, with the home side enjoying 62% possession. City were on the ropes. Town looked on the brink of putting them out of their misery.

Then, weirdly, they did the opposite. Moments after nearly making it 2-0, McGuane was leaving the pitch early after collecting a second yellow card. Jenson Metcalfe – the only City outfield player to emerge with any credit – was too quick for 26-year-old, who produced a poor challenge that could easily have been a straight red. Manning’s faith in McGuane was not exactly repaid.

And suddenly, having had all the authority, Town opened the door slightly.

Over the remainder of the game, City enjoyed 80% possession and finally began to muster a few efforts. Humphrys had a shot blocked. Sibley fired wide from distance. Metcalfe engineered space for the type of effort from which he’s scored twice in recent weeks, but this time Lee Nicholls gathered comfortably. A low cross from Humphrys couldn’t find a taker. City finally won their first corner in the 95th minute, from which Tilt headed straight at Nicholls.

It would be a stretch to say City dominated the closing stages. Fanciful to argue an equaliser ever truly felt imminent. In many ways it echoed the second half at Cardiff last week, where territorial advantage failed to translate into clear-cut chances.

Still, they kept going to the end, trying to right their wrongs. Tyreik Wright and Tommy Leigh were introduced. Town – without a league win since 29 December – were made to sweat. They might even have been reduced to nine men, with Bali Mumba’s elbow on Ashby arguably deserving more than the yellow card the January signing received. But in the end, Huddersfield triumphed, and there was no disputing they deserved it.

It was a very bad day. Not a performance to inspire confidence in the durability of City’s automatic promotion hopes. Stockport’s draw with Cardiff puts them level on points with the Bantams, while Bolton’s late win over Leyton Orient edges them ahead of City and into third on goal difference. City trail second-place Lincoln by five points and go to Sincil Bank on Tuesday for a game they can ill-afford to lose. The good news, at least, is they still hold a seven-point cushion inside the play offs.

But there are reasons to worry. This was City’s fourth defeat in seven games. For context, they lost only two of their first 19 league matches. After an extraordinary start that saw City win 11 of their first 16 games in all competitions, they now have a far more ordinary six victories from their last 18.

Are they on the slide? It’s a fair debating point. Certainly what is clear is they are no longer hitting the heights of August and September, and it’s been a long time since you could say they’ve genuinely played really well. A levelling off, then. A reversion to the mean. The question is whether they can find a second wind and return to their rampaging best. The upcoming fixture list is largely brutal. They need to get a lot better, very quickly.

Which brings us back to this performance. The team were found badly wanting. The midfield once again failed to cope with an opposition deliberately out-numbering them. The wing-backs were isolated. The forward line couldn’t press. On the rare occasions City got in behind Huddersfield, crosses were hopefully flung into the box with too few bodies arriving to attack them. Will Swan was also missing through injury. Without him, the need to sign another striker before the transfer window closes on Monday 3 February feels increasingly obvious.

They can – and must – do better than this. Losing to Huddersfield, with all their greater financial muscle, is far from a disgrace. But the manner of the defeat was unacceptable. So yes, they lose a chunk of the credit they’ve stockpiled. They must accept the arrows coming their way. Take their medicine. And then, together, move on quickly.

Because the bigger picture is still big. This group of players have proven they are among the best in the division. They don’t deserve to have us turn on them. They are absolutely fit to wear the shirt. Everyone connected with Bradford City – players, coaches, supporters – will spend the rest of the weekend sulking and fuming. But then we must dust ourselves off and go again on Tuesday.

With 20 games to go, there is simply too much at stake to lose our heads.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2025/26, BCAFC, Huddersfield Town, League One