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Thoughts elsewhere at Bradford roll into Lincoln
By Nathan Jackson September 6 2007
Bradford and the Imps will compete in a League game for the first time since May 11th 1985, when 56 football fans lost their lives in the Bradford fire, and most thoughts are away from football. Bradford will come into the game on the back of a 5-1 defeat at Doncaster in midweek, and will be hoping to have the same luck the has prevented them from sitting at the bottom of the League.

I'm not going to make this matchbradfordprediction preview about the fire, the aftermath or any of the families that lost someone, because you've heard it all before and no doubt will again and there are no words I could say that would adequately put the pure emotion across. So let's hope Friday night's minute silence will say it all in terms of the pure emotion of the evening.

Bradford's master of the ginger mullet, Stuart McCall, was far from ahppy with his side's performance against Doncaster Rovers but was even less happy with the football authorities who allowed the Imps to have a bye, "Lincoln will be sat at home now laughing their heads off and relaxing because they don't have a game. The League want fairness and fair play. But when the draws are made they should pick one team out for a bye and whoever they've got to play on the weekend should also be exempt. We've got three away games in a week while Lincoln have had six days off - there's no way it's fair what we're doing."

That rant came after his side lost 5-1 at Doncaster Rovers, fielding 7 of the 11 who finished their game against Barnet last week. Bradford's start to life back in the bottom division of the Football League has been less than smooth. Had it not been for a late winning goal against Wrexham then Bradford would be sat bottom of the division on just 2 points. Their other results have seen a draw against Macclesfield, as well as away defeats at Shrewsbury and Bradford.

The Imps go into the game hoping to forget all about Benson's late winner for Dagenham and Redbridge last week, and hope to make it 3 wins out of 4 since they themselves lost in a cup competition at Doncaster. City will more than likely go into the game with the same side that has started the last 3 games.

That will mean Marriott in goal, with Amoo, Beevers, Moses and Brown in front of him. The midfield would consist of Hand, Dodds, Frecklington and N'Guessan with Forrester and Stallard up front.

There will only be two players on the pitch who have played for both sides, both in Imps shirts. Firstly, Mark Stallard spent just over 12 months in the Bantam's colours, joining on loan from Derby before making it permanent. He scored 13 goals in 49 appearances before moving onto Wycombe Wanderers.

The other is Scott Kerr, all 3 of his Bradford appearances came in the 2000/1 season and they didn't lose any of those 3 games. The first came in a 3-1 Intertoto Cup victory over Italian side Atalanta. The second came in the League Cup as Bradford thrashed Darlington 7-2. His final game came in the Premiership, coming on as a substitute in a 0-0 draw at Coventry.

There are a few familiar names in Bradford's squad that have spent time in this division recently. Barry Conlon has a fairly decent record against the Imps during his two spells at Darlington and his loan spell at Mansfield last term. Whereas Guylain Ndungu-Nsungu also scoring against the Imps whilst at Darlington.

Bradford have one or two injury worries ahead of the game, most noteably Donovon Ricketts. He missed the defeat at Doncaster with a groin strain. Paul Evans also picked up an injury at Barnet. However, Peter Thorne is expected to start a second game in a row following an injury. Other than that the Bantam's have a near enough fully fit squad to choose from.

Bradford's recent away form is woeful, losing their last 5 matches on the road and only securing 3 away wins in 2007 so far. Their overall form in general stretching back into last season is even more worrying, only 2 wins in their last 15 competitive games means that they will have to improve soon or potentially get involved in another relegation battle, something a club their size can't afford. But then again, no club's too big to get relegated out of the League.

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