Preview: Bradford City v Hartlepool United

By Albatross
November 25 2005

Last season Hartlepool United did the double over Bradford City; now our opponents have a chance to complete their revenge by doing the same to us. It's likely to be a cold and bleak afternoon in West Yorkshire - and that's just the weather....

Ah, those heady days of last season: in March, Valley Parade was the scene of an important victory for Pools that gave our Playoff chances a big boost - and was accomplished despite Adam Boyd, after his little contretemps that eventually made the front page of the Tabloids on a quiet news day, only on the bench and with bandages on his knees like he'd been used for practice by a St. Johns Ambulance volunteer.

Wind the calender forward a few months, and how different it all is. For a reasonably good March day, substitute a cold November one; instead of looking to consolidate in the top six, Pools are looking to kick-start their season; in place of Porter and Williams up front and the luxury of Boyd on the bench, Pools have a choice of forwards none of whom have bagged more than five goals this season.

Bradford are currently in 9th place, two points closer to the playoff action than Pools. Since beating us at the Vic on the opening day, they've shown a fair degree of inconsistency - and their away record is actually marginally better than their home one. Recent form is none too good - other than a last-minute victory over Morecambe in the LDV in midweek and defeating Tranmere in the FA Cup, you have to go back to 22nd October to find their last win - at home to Gillingham. A couple of 0-0 draws and a defeat since then haven't pushed their chances of a playoff finish - and in fact that victory over the Gills is their only win in their last five home league games.

Their strike force for a large part of the season so far could reasonably be described as the Golden Oldies. Dean Windass, now closer to his 37th birthday than his 36th, is again having a vintage season up front and has reached double figures in all competitions already (6 league and 4 cups), and since the end of August he's had Steve Claridge for company - just five months short of his 40th Birthday, he's scored four goals in eight starts and five sub appearances. If they both play, Pools will be facing a pair of strikers with a combined age of 77 years, with 1351 games and 405 goals between them in the pro ranks.

However it may be that Claridge is left out completely after a less than impressive display at Morecambe in midweek. Despite being second top scorer after Windass, he is set to be dropped completely in favour of Danny Cadamarteri with Joe Brown - the youngster who scored the last-minute winner at Christie Park after coming on as a late sub for the veteran - likely to retain a place on the bench. There look set to be a number of changes to the Bradford side: while a few players (including Windass and Wetherall) were rested, the performance from what was still a reasonably strong lineup was apparently pretty diabolical. Owen Morrison and Bobby Petta - third highest scorer with three goals - came in for particular criticism and it sounds like both will be dropped to the bench at best.

The team news for Pools remains dominated by injuries and suspension. Boyd and Porter have both shown encouraging signs of progress on the road to recovery from their knee problems but are still unlikely to be even ready for a reserve runout for a few weeks; Barron and Robertson are both moving into the frame again and so also should be Darrell Clarke - after all, if he was fit enough to sit on the bench for Port Vale he should be ready to do the same for us. To add to all these problems, Thomas Butler - by far and away our best attacker this season - serves a one game ban after his sending-off last week. With problems on the right flank as well - neither Istead nor Maidens has suggested they are the solution we need now - that causes Scott a real headache. I won't be surprised to see Humphreys move into the left midfield slot, with Robertson (or maybe John Brackstone) behind him; on the right, we may see Chris Llewellyn return if he's fit while I expect the on-loan Dean McDonald to start up front, probably alongside Eifion Williams.

I can't deny that I approach this match with a distinct lack of optimism. Pools are currently looking less than convincing, Butler is missing as well as our first-choice strikers, and the problem position of right midfield still doesn't look close to finding a solution. The hopeful thing is that our opponents seem to be going through a rough patch as well. Unfortunately I think we'll find the loss of Butler will stunt our creativity, and I'm predicting Pools to go down 1-0 and put even more pressure on Martin Scott.