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Sept 2024
Harrogate Town set for crunch Yorkshire derby against Bradford City
Harrogate Town will host Bradford City in a Yorkshire derby live on Sky television today.
The Bantams come to the Exercise Stadium for a lunchtime kick off and head into the fixture with two defeats in their opening seven matches.
Simon Weaver’s men will be hoping to replicate last season’s thumping 3-0 win over their Yorkshire rivals at Wetherby Road.
They are currently 20th in the league with seven points from their first seven games.
Weaver said he expected a tough test going into today’s game.
He said:
They’ve got a lot of pedigree and know-how in their team. They’re a big club and they’ll have high expectations because it’s Bradford City after all.
But we are at the same level and we’ve got to battle it out and make our town proud.
Harrogate will still be without George Thomson and Matty Daly for the fixture, although there are no further injury concerns.
Bradford head into today’s clash in eighth position, having taken 11 points from seven games, but have been defeated in each of their last two games away from home.
Bantams manager Graham Alexander said his players would be prepared for the Yorkshire derby.
He said:
There is no reason why we should not already be fully prepared for the challenge.
I do not see any explanation as to why they would be more up for it than us, every game should mean something to you and in the end, you break it down into what it means for your team and your aspirations.
The team you are facing and competition you have are outside of that so every game, no matter the competition we are playing, we should have the same goal and focus solely on ourselves.
In my playing career, I could not change my motivation or turn it on or off like a tap, so I have always tried to keep the players focused and motivated with a single goal.
Harrogate Town will kick off against Bradford City at 12.30pm. The match will also be televised live on Sky Sports+.
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