Huddersfield Town make the short trip across West Yorkshire to Bradford on Saturday lunchtime to resume hostilities with our near neighbours. Town currently sit at the top of League One and come into the game after a run of three consecutive wins. Bradford are in decent form themselves, having not lost a game since being beaten by Cambridge United on 1 September, notching up four wins and four draws since then. They’ve also recently lost Graham Alexander as manager to Preston North End and have replaced him with former Town manager, Michael Duff.
Bradford City away was a real low point of last season, with Town being on the wrong end of the 3-1 scoreline. The bigger issue was Town failed to turn up for the derby game and put in one of the limpest performances of the season. Being outplayer happens in football but it was hard to stomach seeing our team being outfought by our local rivals. This season’s Huddersfield Town team are different to Lee Grant’s Terriers, so I have faith that we’ll not see a repeat of that non-performance.
Here’s my preview of the game…
Predicted Huddersfield Town lineup to take on Bradford City
As a Huddersfield Town fan, I’m quite pleased that Martin Drury has tended towards keeping a settled starting eleven but as a blogger that enjoys speculating about potential lineups, he’s not giving me much to talk about before the games. I think successful teams are more often built on a solid core of players that play week in, week out, so that relationships can be built across the pitch and consistency built, even if it makes these predicted lineups a bit dull.
Once again, I expect Martin Drury to name an unchanged starting eleven for this game. There is the possibility that Joe Low could lose his place in the team to Radinio Balker, who is now back from injury. I’m not sure this is the game to make that change though, as Joe Low hasn’t done a great deal wrong (aside from the odd shonky pass) so doesn’t deserve to be dropped. Balker is the more elegant player of the two but I like the presence that Joe Low brings to the back line with his huge frame.
I don’t think there are any positions on the pitch where there’s any doubt about who will start. Bali Mumba’s form has improved so much that there’s no question of whether he or Harness should start on the left wing. Bojan Radulovic’s injury makes Fletcher the obvious choice to start up front. Similarly, Ryan Ledson’s suspension makes it obvious that Collins and Humphreys should be our midfield pairing (I’d argue this should be the case even when Ledson is available again).
The more interesting to look at in this game will be how much Martin Drury uses his bench in the second half. He’s become increasingly reluctant to make changes and the number of subs he’s making per game has trended downwards as the season has gone on. But this is likely to be a physically demanding game, so it’s possible that changes will be needed as players start to flag later on. My guess is that Martin Drury doesn’t entirely trust some of his fringe players, particularly to close out tight games, so prefers to stick with his starters even when they’re exhausted.
Predicted lineup: Young, Bronkhorst, Low, Bowat, Roughan, Fernandes, Collins, Humphreys, Mumba, Fletcher, Taylor
Chaos is a ladder
This games sees one of League Ones best attacking teams (only Reading have scored more goals than Town) come up against the league’s best defensive team (Bradford have conceded a measly five goals, an impressive stat). So I think this game will be decided by which team gets to play the way they want to. If Bradford can turn it into a tight, dour, defensive match then I think they’ll edge it but if the game is a proper blood and thunder derby match, Town have the better attacking players to take advantage of the chaos.
I’ve written at length about how Town struggle to break down defensive teams, so Bradford are likely to try to keep things tight and restrict the space available to us in their final third. However, the home advantage could end up counting against them if their fans get frustrated and demand a more attacking approach.
Martin Drury has talked about how he’d like to see his team control games more and rely less on counter attacking goals but this isn’t the game to make that change. With players like Taylor and Fernandes on the pitch, it will suit us if the game can become end-to-end and we can create opportunities to get in behind Bradford.
If the game is more like a chess match, with both teams too cagey and cautious to have a proper go, we’re likely to struggle. Particularly when you consider our tendency to need four or five good chances for each goal we actually put away.
You look familiar…
Technically speaking, both managers have had spells in charge of the team they’re playing against in this match. Michael Duff was in charge for Town’s first season in League One after their relegation from the Championship in 2024. Martin Drury’s one-match spell as Bradford City’s caretaker manager in 2019 is less well remembered, partly because his only game in charge resulted in a 5-1 drubbing by Portsmouth. As well as that short stint in the top job, he spent six years in various coaching roles, so is very familiar with Bradford.
Michael Duff’s spell at Huddersfield Town was a disappointment but I think it was more due to the post-relegation hangover than any personal failing of Duff. He was sacked while the club were still in a relatively decent league position and Jon Worthington’s spell as caretaker saw the wheels fully come off and the season ended in disappointment, another hint that Duff wasn’t the problem.
When Michael Duff came back to Huddersfield last season with Wycombe (who sacked him earlier this season) he completely lost his rag on the touchline and I vaguely remember him pointing fingers and shouting abuse at various Huddersfield Town players and coaches. It could have been the heat of the moment but my suspicion is that he’s a bit bitter about how he was treated while he was at Huddersfield Town.
I don’t think this game needs any extra spice, but it’ll be interesting to see how the two managers set their teams up. Will they encourage a disciplined approach and stick to a gameplan or will they want the players to channel the emotion of the occasion into the game and make it a battle?
Score prediction – Bradford City 1 – 3 Huddersfield Town
This feels like it’s the biggest test we’ve faced so far this season. I don’t like saying nice things about Bradford if I can avoid it but they are a decent League One team and they’re good in a way that we struggle to deal with, building from a solid defensive (biscuit) base.
Despite Bradford’s strengths, I think Town will come out on top in this match. The games we’ve played against the teams at the top end of the league have actually gone pretty well for us so far this season. We deservedly beat Oxford United when they came to play us early in the season, we were unlucky (and slightly inept) to turn a 2-0 lead into a 2-2 draw against Sheffield Wednesday but were still the better team on the day and Plymouth away was arguably our best performance of the season and we could have won by a much wider margin than the 2-0 scoreline.
So this season’s Huddersfield Town team have been turning up in the big games and generally playing better than the opposition. I think we’ll get the better of Bradford in this game. I don’t think any team in League One will want to play us in our current form and with players like Fernandes and Taylor able to create goals out of almost nothing, we’re a constant threat.
If Town are able to create a game where they can play to their strengths then I think we can score heavily even though Bradford have a solid defensive record this season. A clean sheet will be harder to achieve if we are able to open up the game and play attacking, transitional football but it’s a risk worth taking to get the chance for our better players to shine.
Nothing to add, TS, except I just hope you’re right!
Just on use of the bench, I hope Drury does max out his bench as there’s another tough match on Tuesday.
Wow – 1-3! Seems too good – but as with Simon , hope so.
A quick look suggests Bradford had 50/50 possession with Oxford and Peterborough while town had significantly under 50% against both, while winning comfortably.
So as you suggest Bradford will have plenty of the ball – Town won’t exert ‘control’ but maybe Bradford, despite their brilliant defensive record may not be in a ‘low block’.
They have scored barely one goal a game – while Town have two – but Town don’t do clean sheets – (their Achilles heel surely) , so my natural pessimism suggests 1-2.