"Very detrimental" - Potential Bradford City concern raised despite closing Walsall gap | OneFootball

The Bantams are on a fantastic streak of results right now, and they have Walsall at the top of the table in their sights

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Having won 12 of their last 15 League Two matches, Bradford City are riding the crest of a wave right now under the mangement of Graham Alexander.

With an average attendance of nearly 17,000 every matchday, the Bantams are well-supported each time they step out onto the pitch, and perhaps it's the fans that have helped to carry them into the promotion race.

The appointment of Alexander in November 2023, given he had just been sacked by MK Dons a few weeks prior, was a questionable one, and 15 games into the current campaign, after losing to former club Fleetwood Town, the 53-year-old was under pressure from fans, with Bradford finding themselves in 10th position.

There has been very little to complain about since then though, with Tuesday night's 3-0 win over Cheltenham Town at Valley Parade the latest in a long line of positive results, and it sees the West Yorkshire outfit go just two points behind league leaders Walsall.

Bradford City need to keep key duo fit ahead of League Two run-in

When asked on what Bradford's biggest club issue is at this current moment in time, FLW's Bantams fan pundit Fletcher Smith believes that it is keeping two players in particular wrapped in cotton wool that will be causing Graham Alexander the most anxiety.

Ironically, both Antoni Sarcevic and Alex Pattison - who have been name-dropped as two of City's best players right now - have missed recent games through injury, whilst talisman Andy Cook is out for the season, but Bradford cannot afford to lose any more first-teamers despite their depth.

"The club's biggest issue at the moment is honestly just keeping our players fit," Fletcher told FLW.

"We've got Antoni Sarcevic, who is a known promotion winner from League Two, I think he's been promoted with three or four of his last clubs from League Two, we've got Alex Pattison too - on their day they're both two of the best players in the league.

"I think our biggest issue is keeping them fit for the rest of the season. Obviously, they've had injury history in the past - Sarcevic was out for four months at the start of the season, and he came off injured at Salford but apparently it's not too bad.

"Pattison the same, he was out for a while but he's come back now. If they become injured then I think it would be very detrimental to our season and we could end up falling out of the automatic promotion spots.

"Everything else around the club is positive at the minute because this is the first time we've been in the automatic promotion spots, and the owner seems to be putting money in too, so no issues on that side at the moment."

Coincidentally, neither Pattison or Sarcevic were in Alexander's 18-man squad for the 3-0 drubbing of Cheltenham, with a rotated 11 easily dispatching of the Robins.

Sarcevic however, who has scored five times and notched four assists in just 19 fourth tier matches this season, has been for a scan on the injury that brought him off against Salford, so City could be without the experienced midfielder for part of the run-in.

Pattison meanwhile has missed Bradford's last two league victories, and with his six league goals in League Two this season, the 27-year-old is another player that Alexander simply cannot afford to lose for too long.

Sarcevic and Pattison not being in the matchday squad against Cheltenham wasn't ideal, but Bradford clearly had enough to ease their way past Michael Flynn's side.

And their depth is very evident - January signing George Lapslie came in for the injured Sarcevic and netted twice, proving that Alexander has strength in numbers when it comes to getting on the scoresheet.

Tommy Leigh was also an option if needed after his move from MK Dons in the mid-season window too, so if Sarcevic does need to spend some time on the sidelines, then at least Alexander knows what he has at his disposal.