Preview|Bradford City (A)

26 August 2022

Crewe Alexandra will aim to rise to the occasion when they visit Bradford City on Saturday (3pm).

The Bantams regularly draw crowds of more than 15,000 people and a partisan atmosphere is expected for our third away game of the season.

Alex Morris’s men will be trying to make it three games unbeaten but expect a tough task against a City side undefeated at home.

The Opposition

Bradford City are comfortably the biggest club in the fourth tier and are now embarking on a fourth attempt to start a climb back up the pyramid. They have taken six points from the last nine on offer, and start the game lying 11^th in the standings - three points below Crewe.

The Gaffer

Manchester United legend Mark Hughes has managed at the highest level with the likes of Manchester City, Blackburn, Fulham and the Welsh national side. After almost four years out of the game, he took the Bantams job in February and is now starting his first full season in charge at Valley Parade.

Fighting Talk

Lee Bell: "We’ve come up with a plan of how we will play against Bradford, it’s a different challenge in a brilliant stadium. They have a great fanbase, and we will focus on what we can do to get a foothold in the game and come away with three points."

Mark Hughes: "(The midweek cup defeat to Blackburn) won’t affect our confidence in any way, shape or form. We’ve done as well as probably everybody expected. We wanted to do better as a group but it wasn’t to be. We will concentrate on the league and see how we go with that and hopefully impress.”

Team news

Lachlan Brook has been ruled out for six weeks with an ankle injury, and Alex Morris expects to still be without Christopher Long, Charlie Colkett and Rio Adebisi.

Levi Sutton is back in the Bradford squad after missing a couple of games waiting for the birth of his child.

Head-to-Head

Bradford have won 43 of the 94 clashes with Crewe over the years. The Alex have been victorious in 36, and 19 have ended in a draw.

Officials

Referee Sunny Singh Gill, who earlier this month become the first British South Asian to referee an EFL fixture since his dad, Jarnail Singh, over a decade ago, will take charge of the fixture.

Assistant referees are Paul Newhouse and Kevin Mulraine, while Alex Gray is fourth official.

Elsewhere in League Two

AFC Wimbledon v Barrow; Carlisle v Gillingham; Harrogate v Newport; Orient v Hartlepool; Northampton v Doncaster; Rochdale v Crawley; Salford v Stevenage; Stockport v Swindon; Sutton v Mansfield; Tranmere v Colchester; Walsall v Grimsby.

Ticket Details

	Pre-Match	Matchday
Adults	£20.00	£25.00
Over 65	£18.00	£20.00
17-23	£18.00	£20.00
12-16	£10.00	£10.00
Under-11s	£5.00	£5.00

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Match Previews

Match Reports

Match Report|Bradford City 0 Crewe Alexandra 0

27 August 2022

Creditable draw on the road at fancied Bradford City
First clean sheet on the road in 26 attempts
Impressive display leaves the Alex seventh in League Two

Crewe Alexandra took a hard-fought point from a goalless draw at Bradford City.

The shares were spoiled after an evenly-contested game at University of Bradford Stadium.

Courtney Baker-Richardson went closest for the Alex while Scott Banks rattled the bar for the hosts, but they could not be separated.

It was the first clean sheet in 26 away games for Crewe, and the first ever 0-0 draw at Bradford.

Alex Morris handed a debut to midfielder Eli King, who only signed on loan from Cardiff on Thursday, in place of the injured Lachlan Brook

Callum Ainley, making his 250^th appearance for the club, won a free-kick in a shooting position on 17 minutes but Tariq Uwakwe, playing in attack, blazed the dead ball well over.

Keeper Arthur Okonkwo made a smart stop from Banks, but there was nothing he could do about another Banks strike on 28 minutes and he was grateful to see the ball come back off the bar.

Bradford keeper Harry Lewis was out quickly to block a Baker-Richardson strike, but neither side could make a breakthrough in an entertaining first 45 minutes.

Real chances were at a premium early on in the second half, with neither side doing enough to truly test the opposition keeper.

On 68 minutes a terrific bit of play involving Ainley and Uwakwe carved out an opportunity for Baker-Richardson but good last-ditch defending from Matty Platt denied him.

On 77 minutes, just after Mark Hughes had used his third and fourth substitutions, Okonkwo held a Banks curler at the second attempt.

Crewe switched to a back-five for the closing stages, as Bradford came on strong.

Seven minutes were added at the end but The Railwaymen stood strong to take a deserved point.

Bradford (4-2-4): Lewis; Halliday, Platt, Crichlow, Ridehalgh; Smallwood, East (Sutton, 76); Banks, Chapman (Harratt, 46), Cook (Oliver, 76), Angol (Young, 46).

Subs not used: Doyle, Songo’o, Odusina.

Booked: Cook, Halliday

Crewe (4-3-3): Okonkwo; Mellor, Offord, McDonald, Williams; Thomas, King, Ainley (Sass-Davies, 85); Uwakwe, Baker-Richardson, Agyei.

Subs not used: Richards, Leshabela, O Finney, C Finney, Tabiner, Griffiths.

Booked: None.

Referee: Sunny Gill.

Attendance: 16,541 (439).