Rotherham United vs Bradford City Preview

Article by Bradford City Correspondent Timothy Feather

Rotherham United vs Bradford City

New York Stadium - 3.00pm Kick-Off

Bradford City and Rotherham United have had fairly good starts to their campaigns as two of the promoted sides in League One this season. Both have performed higher than expected of them against some of the major teams in the league this season. Bradford go into the game having not won in five games, despite putting in some good performances. Manager Phil Parkinson told BBC Radio Leeds, "We're relatively pleased with how things are going at the moment but we haven't got the points the performances have merited.” Bradford performed well against some very tough sides including Wolves, Crawley, Preston and Crewe but only took two points from a possible twelve in those four games. There are no major injury concerns for the Bantams although Parkinson has stated there will be a couple of changes to his squad.

Bradford City’s last trip to the New York Stadium resulted in a 4-0 loss. Looking back on that day Bradford were far too open and this was emphasised by Parkinson. He told the official Bradford City website, "The back four was too deep and the wide players didn't recover quickly enough. It was an open game and we got punished for it.” Bradford lost 2-0 in the home fixture which was a result which arguably complimented Rotherham on the day. Bradford will be looking for that extra bit of luck and quality on the day. Nakhi Wells will be back after having played the second half of the Wolves game and the full ninety minutes against Crewe. Rory McArdle will be buoyed after being called up to the Northern Ireland squad and his partnership with recently signed Matthew Bates is starting to take shape.

Bradford won the FA Cup in 1911, which remains the clubs only major silverware. In recent seasons they haven’t had the best run of form in the FA Cup having only made the third round once in the past three years when they lost to Watford. Bradford’s run in the FA Cup ended among controversy last season when they were disqualified from the tournament for fielding an illegible player. Curtis Good came in on loan from Newcastle and played against Brentford but the paperwork wasn’t sent through in time. However Bradford appealed the decision and were re-instated to the competition but it was in vain as they lost 4-2 in the replay with the Bees.

Rotherham United are really up for the competition and are looking to put a recent run of poor results behind them. Millers’ Chairman Tony Stewart wants the New York Stadium to be packed to the rafters and rocking. He told the official Rotherham United website, Bradford and Rotherham have had some great games in recent times and those games had “magnificent support of the Millers fans and it’s important that they turn out once again to back the team on Saturday.” Rotherham made it to the third round last year after defeating, Stevenage, Notts County but losing to Aldershot. They will be hungry to repeat that success and go further than last season.

A win for either side tomorrow will be massive, for Rotherham it will be so they can “kick on” and take some confidence into the league by defeating a local rival of a similar calibre to themselves. But for Bradford it will mean they have managed to triumph over Rotherham after they did the double over the Bantams last season. Bradford haven’t won a cup game in any competitions this season losing to Huddersfield Town in the Capital One Cup and losing to Hartlepool in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Despite it being in the FA Cup, both teams will be hungry for the win, and both teams need the win! It would be fantastic to see City win in the Millers’ back-yard but it will be a tough test, and they will have to be made of stern stuff.

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