Written by Jason McKeown (images by John Dewhirst)

The good news for Bradford City is that this defeat does little damage to their play-off hopes. The bad news is it may well set up a repeat of exactly this kind of afternoon.

That’s because Stevenage’s triumph tightens their grip on the final play-off spot and raises the prospect of a sixth-placed vs third-placed semi-final clash between the two clubs. And as City proved here, Stevenage are not the type of opponents they know how to beat: a gritty, ugly, unpretentious side with no qualms about stinking the place out to grind out victory.

And, blimey, didn’t this game stink.

If we, as a Bradford public, have been spoiled by a season’s worth of entertaining home games, this was reparation. An afternoon of tedium that eventually turned into huge frustration. City didn’t play well but didn’t deserve to lose either. They came up short against opponents who were monotonously resolute, and who demonstrated why they have the second-best defensive record in the division.

All of which is not to pass around sour grapes. In a week where we cheered Graham Alexander’s shortlisting for League One Manager of the Season, Stevenage got to toast their own manager Alex Revell also making the cut. The club with the second-lowest average attendance and a reported bottom-eight budget have done incredibly well to race past sides with much vaster resources and close in on a play-off finish. They deserve so much credit for making every penny count, being so comfortable in their own skin, and utilising their considerable strengths.

Unfortunately for City, those strengths are not ones they have mastered the art of countering. Give the Bantams expansive opponents playing out from the back and watch them run amok. But Stevenage had no interest in allowing City to bully and press them. Revell’s 3-4-1-2 cancelled out Alexander’s 3-4-3. Boro defended deep, went long when they won turnovers, and more than matched City’s physicality in both boxes.

A little bit like the recent Mansfield game and – going back further – years of struggle in League Two, City have habitually struggled against opponents who park the bus and concentrate on congesting central areas. While many visiting sides have attempted to stop City’s wing-backs, Stevenage made no special plans for Josh Neufville and Ibou Touray, instead working on closing down the routes for Aden Baldwin, Jenson Metcalfe and Max Power’s diagonal passes. The Stevenage back three marshalled City’s front line well, making it difficult for Neufville and Touray to link up with wide forwards and easier to deal with crosses into the box.

Everywhere a City player looked, the path to goal was blocked off. It required eye-of-the-needle, quick-fire passing to break through the Stevenage low block, and such precision proved beyond City here. Perhaps it might have been different had Bobby Pointon not received a nasty whack in the opening seconds as he shaped to shoot in the box. He went down in a heap, tried to carry on, but by the 18th minute had to admit defeat and was taken off.

Without Pointon’s willingness to run with the ball and stretch the play, City became laboured and predictable. George Lapslie was chosen to replace him – a more obvious switch of bringing Kayden Jackson on and moving Stephen Humphrys wide possibly ruled out because the January signing needs easing back from injury. It was Lapslie’s first action since February and he found it tough going, somewhat inevitably being substituted later in the game. The struggle to make an impression put him in good company.

The game was mind-numbingly repetitive. Stop. Start. Stop. Foul after foul. Throw-in after throw-in. Baldwin or Sam Walker took turns knocking it long towards Humphrys or Antoni Sarcevic, with both struggling to win their headers. Metcalfe and Humphrys had moments in possession in decent areas but were guilty of overplaying. Sarcevic tried to instigate attacks, yet his radar was slightly off. Power battled gamely in midfield, though he could not pick a pass through the wall of Stevenage players. Humphrys recently talked of finding it boring leading the line and must have found this turgid affair no different. This certainly was not his game.

Chances were all too infrequent. Between minute 13 and 38, neither side mustered a single shot. If City’s attack was disjointed, Stevenage’s was almost non-existent. You could quickly see why – despite their exceptional defensive record – they came into this game with only the division’s bottom three sides having scored fewer goals. City’s defence was excellent too, with Joe Wright excelling in his first start since the January Huddersfield defeat, and Curtis Tilt winning everything. Still, it was a horrible half of football – the nine minutes of stoppage time felt like unnecessary torture.

The second half brought the high stakes to the fore. Stevenage – probably aware that nearest rivals Plymouth had dropped points in the early kick-off – seemed even more content to sit back. They pushed time-wasting to new levels, aided by a completely impotent refereeing display from Tom Reeves. As City grew more desperate and pushed bodies forward, gaps began to appear.

And that’s how Stevenage broke and won a throw-in level with the City penalty area, from which they scored. Charlie Goode hoisted a long throw into the box, Sarcevic misjudged his clearance, and Dan Kemp was given too much time to smash the ball into the corner. A goal from Stevenage’s only shot on target. And given City’s struggles to break the visitors down at 0–0, this was now a true mountain to climb.

The most heartening aspect was that City gave it their best shot. Heads did not drop. They pushed and pushed. Perhaps if Reeves had sent off Kemp for a needless late kick at Tilt after play had stopped, or if Joe Wright’s goal hadn’t been disallowed for a soft challenge on goalkeeper Filip Marschall, City might have earned something. In these moments, Stevenage certainly rode their luck.

Alexander rang the changes. On came Nick Powell and Jackson for Lapslie and Metcalfe. Sarcevic dropped into midfield alongside Power, presumably to get him on the ball more often than the scraps he had been feeding off as a wide forward. Both Powell and Jackson made a positive impression and began to stretch Stevenage. The final 20 minutes were City’s best.

The last throw of the dice was Paul Mullin for Joe Wright, going 4-2-4. Within seconds of coming on, Mullin predictably gave away a free-kick for a needless foul. He did produce one moment of quality, bringing down a Humphrys pass and laying it off to Jackson, who ran into the box but could only fire straight at Marschall. But aside from that, Mullin again flattered to deceive. Clearly, this wasn’t his type of game – but you increasingly have to ask what, exactly, is his type of game?

Questions have to be asked about the wisdom of bringing Mullin in during January – he’s never proved himself at this level, and his loan spell at Wigan earlier this season was so disappointing that the struggling Latics sent him back to Wrexham. Mullin took the role vacated by Andy Cook, who this afternoon scored twice for Grimsby to take his tally to six goals from 11 starts (six sub appearances) since joining on loan. Mullin has yet to score for City and Alexander doesn’t seem to fancy him. The logic of letting Cook leave in January was strong, but it’s hard to judge City’s swapping up of their strikers as anything but a failure so far.

Nevertheless, City huffed, puffed and almost equalised. Marschall made two superb late saves, first from a Powell header after a wicked Touray cross. Then deep into stoppage time came the only corner of the game. Sam Walker went up. The initial ball was cleared, but Power recycled it and Sarcevic was denied by a wonder save.

That was as good as it got. The final whistle brought boos from the crowd, though it’s unclear exactly why. For sure this was not City’s finest hour, but it was only their third home defeat of the season. Because of results elsewhere, the cushion inside the play-offs remains a healthy eight points with four games to play. Two more wins should guarantee a top-six finish. Four points is probably enough.

They must quickly shake off this disappointment and focus on completing the job. They will watch the midweek games with interest before travelling to Oakwell on Saturday, backed by some 5,000 City fans who will sing themselves hoarse in South Yorkshire. What an occasion it promises to be. What an exciting end to the season we are in for.

Hopefully.

If the table stays as it is and City face Stevenage in the semi-finals, it may be anything but exciting. Certainly, it’s not an opponent they’d want based on this evidence. Stevenage’s streetwise, uncompromising approach is kryptonite to City’s pressing intensity. And in beating the Bantams, they add to claret-and-amber insecurities about the lack of goals since mid-September. As Alexander admitted after, “We haven’t been clinical enough this season, you can throw that at us and it’s happened again.”

All for another day. For now, we should remind ourselves just how well City have performed this season. They have at minimum set club history by ensuring their highest-ever placing as a newly promoted club in a higher division. Their average home attendance of 20,381 leaves them on course for their highest average since 1922. Barring an unprecedented collapse, they will extend their season and be part of the glamour and drama of the play-offs.

They’ve come so far, so quickly – and that’s why no one should be too downhearted by what is ultimately a small setback.

Categories: Match Reviews

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