Cardiff City warned of 'generational bottle-job' as Bradford City chase | OneFootball

Bradford City have become the main challenger to Cardiff City in the League One automatic promotion race.

Bradford City enjoyed an impressive Easter schedule to move themselves into third place and the team now closest behind Cardiff City in the automatic promotion spots.

Lincoln City have secured promotion to the Championship after an excellent campaign and a truly magnificent, almost remarkable few months in League One.

Bolton Wanderers had been the team likeliest to challenge Cardiff for second spot but three wins in ten games for the Trotters means that Bradford have not leapfrogged them in the third-tier table.

Bradford have taken advantage of that, backing up a win against Northampton Town on Good Friday by defeating Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park on Easter Monday.

The Bantams have moved themselves into third in the League One table – and they have given themselves a chance of catching Cardiff with five games to play, albeit the Bluebirds have six games left.

Bradford must believe they can catch Cardiff

Having snatched a top three spot and automatic promotion on the final day of last season’s League Two campaign, from previously runaway leaders Walsall, Bradford supporters must believe that Graham Alexander and his City side can do so again.

It remains a difficult task and one that would need something fairly miraculous to happen but FLW’s Bradford Fan Pundit Boris Thomson still has some belief.

Boris says: “I definitely think there’s a chance that we could replace Cardiff in the top two.

“It is an outside chance, don’t get me wrong, and I think it would be an absolutely generational bottle-job from Cardiff if we were to do so.

“However, I’ve seen weirder things happen. Everyone remembers Walsall last year when they were about 15 points clear at the turn of the year and ended up not even getting promoted.

“It’s a possibility. It’s a very, very, very, very unlikely possibility but it could happen. They’re in terrible form, we’ve had a good Easter and we can only wait and see.”

Cardiff are wobbling as Bradford begin to surge

Having been excellent for the first-half of this campaign, Cardiff, under the management of Brian Barry-Murphy, have collapsed in terms of performances and results in the spring – with nobody yet to pounce on their mistakes.

The Bluebirds have managed just two victories in their last eight matches but, due to that inconsistency from Bolton, have managed to hold off any realistic challenge.

Cardiff sit seven points clear of Bradford, with a game-in-hand, but their form is troublesome and will give some supporters cause for concern.

Their next outing sees them take on Bolton, a point behind Bradford, and that does appear pivotal because a defeat there would really begin to sow some panic in the fanbase.

After that, Cardiff go to Huddersfield Town and Reading, two tricky games against sides chasing a top six finish and play-off football, before rounding off the season with home games against relegation-bound Port Vale and Northampton Town, as well as a trip to Mansfield Town.

If things go according to Bradford’s plan and Cardiff do wobble in those next three matches in particular then they simply must win upcoming games against Stevenage and Barnsley before a tough run in for themselves against Plymouth Argyle, Bolton and Exeter City.