Saturday lunchtime’s football comes from League Two as Bradford City host Grimsby Town at 12.30pm at Valley Parade.

Team news

It’s not a great time to be Mark Hughes, as Bradford have a whole host of absentees. Last season’s top scorer Andy Cook is out while his long-time deputy Vadaine Oliver is still recovering from an operation. This season’s top scorer Alex Pattison is also unavailable, and the list grows longer with Clarke Oduor called up by Kenya over this international break. 

Grimsby are in the middle of a slight injury crisis as Otis Khan, Donovan Wilson and Kieran Green have all missed recent matches while former Bradford man Charles Vernam has recently also been hit with an injury. That could cause them some issues in the final third as their reliance on Abo Eisa continues.

Draw

Grimsby have been far better at home this term than they have away from home. They’ve won two and drawn one at Blundell Park, but only picked up one point so far on the road. They were beaten at Barnsley last time out in League Two, but given all of Bradford’s attacking injuries, they will be desperate to get another point on the board. 

Paul Hurst has done a brilliant job since taking charge and with Abo Eisa on fire with four goals in six matches, they can get a result here. The early kick-off could produce goals too, but Bradford’s games recently have been tight. They’ve drawn their last two outings in normal time, but are now struggling for goals without Cook and Oliver. The home side are EVS heading into this one, but that feels too short given the sides are relatively well-match on paper. 

Bradford 1-1 Grimsby

Backing a correct score is the best way to pluck value out of nowhere. If we believe the match will end in a draw, we can also narrow it down to two results. Bradford have scored just two league goals in their last four matches, meaning they are unlikely to score more than one in this match. 

Meanwhile Grimsby have scored two goals on the road this term, but failed to score in two of their three away matches. 0-0 is available at 9/1, but given the talent of Eisa I believe the away side will score, and so will Bradford – who are under pressure to get a result at home. Therefore, we finish with a score prediction of 1-1, which will not satisfy either manager at Valley Parade.