Wanderers make the journey across the Pennines to Valley Parade for their final away fixture of the Sky Bet League One season away at Bradford City on Saturday afternoon.
The Whites are currently third in the table having collected 74 points, a point and a place above their opponents with two games of the campaign remaining.
Head Coach Steven Schumacher comes up against the club where he made over 100 appearances as a player between 2004-2007.
It’s another fixture against a side from West Yorkshire for the second consecutive weekend for Wanderers, following on from last Saturday lunchtime’s 3-3 draw against Huddersfield Town, with Wanderers set to be backed by a sold-out away support at Valley Parade.
Ibrahim Cissoko’s dramatic equaliser in the 11th minute of second-half added time earned 10-man Wanderers a home point after battling back from 3-1 down despite Jordi Osei-Tutu’s red card. Eoin Toal and Johnny Kenny were also on the scoresheet for the Whites either side of David Kasumu’s double and Marcus Harness’ penalty in a six-goal thriller.
Awaiting Wanderers are Graham Alexander’s Bantams, who alongside the Whites, will be aiming to cement their place in the end of season play-offs on Saturday. Bradford head into the encounter after a midweek 1-1 draw at home to Plymouth Argyle.
The reverse league clash ended goalless in November at the Toughsheet Community Stadium. Wanderers won the latest meeting a month later, defeating Bradford 3-0 in a Vertu Trophy tie through goals from Cissoko (x2) and Marcus Forss in BL6.
Saturday’s game is Bradford City’s annual memorial fixture to mark the 41st anniversary of the Valley Parade Fire Disaster, with supporters, players and staff coming together to remember the 56 Bradford City and Lincoln City supporters who lost their lives on May 11th 1985.
For full details of how the 56 will be remembered at City’s annual memorial fixture, please click HERE
Press Conference:
Steven Schumacher:
“It’s their last home fixture, they are remembering the tragedy that they had, so the atmosphere will be an intense one. Bradford are going well, they are a team who are right behind us in the league, it’s a difficult game against another opponent that are going for the top six, that we’ve faced in the final seven games, so the players have to be up for it, there’s no other way about it, and we have to be motivated to go and perform at our best otherwise you’ll get a result that you don’t want.
“We haven’t focused on what’s going on around us, it’s not going to change our mindset and we want to finish the season as strong as possible, we’re playing two really good teams in the last two league fixtures, so we don’t want to give them an advantage in any of them, so the mindset is going to win the game at Valley Parade, which won’t be easy, but we’ve got the capability to do so.
“Both games that we had were difficult games. I know the Vertu Trophy game, we ended up winning it by three goals but it wasn’t a three goal margin, it was tight, it could have gone either way, and the league game was tight, we had opportunities, they had one or two late on and I expect it will be a tough game.
“Graham is a really experienced coach, he’s got his team really well organised and their motivation levels to keep going are similar to ourselves and they score a fair few late goals, they had to come from behind having suffered an early set back against (Plymouth) Argyle, so we know that they are a team that won’t give in, so we’re expecting a really tough afternoon so we have to be at our best to win it."
Referee:
Sebastian Stockbridge
Kick-Off
Saturday, 3pm
Team News
Jordi Osei-Tutu is suspended for the game at Bradford after his red card against Huddersfield.
Xavier Simons and Ethan Erhahon are stepping up their fitness after their injuries as they move closer to a return to action.
Wanderers TV:
Supporters can purchase Wanderers TV audio passes and listen to full-match commentary from Wanderers’ trip to Bradford City with Derek Clark and John McGinlay. International supporters can stream the game live.
To purchase your Wanderers TV audio pass, please click here.