Bradford City issue with Barrow game reminder of Scunthorpe

An alarmingly wet winter has left the Bantams playing a glut of surprise midweek games, a rare event normally in the second half of a league season.

But the rest have all been played at the second attempt, not so Barrow away, which yesterday was called off once again having been initially canned on Saturday, February 24.

Now the referee back then, Tom Nield, will have had his reasons, but the whole charade that day now seems even more farcical given the torrential rain that rendered last night’s retake impossible.

The sun was shining in Cumbria on that day in late February, the pitch looked in gorgeous condition, and with fans, players and staff all already in situ in Barrow, nobody was even contemplating a call off.

But an hour before kick off, Nield insisted the goalmouth at the Holker Street end of the ground was unacceptable due to a lack of bounce for the football, and deemed the pitch unplayable.

That eyebrow-raising call left Barrow manager Pete Wild particularly incensed, though the away supporters who had spent time and money travelling the 90 miles or so to get there, as well as potentially booking overnight stays, were none too pleased either.

Pete Wild could not believe the original game between City and Barrow was called off, and now take two will not be happening either. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

That perfect opportunity to play slipped away and with the weather in Cumbria notoriously temperamental, tonight was seemingly a non-starter as soon as the first club officials turned up at the ground yesterday morning.

The fact the game was called off nearly nine hours before kick-off shows just how bad the rain was overnight in Barrow.

And now we are left with a situation where realistically the only date this game can be played is on Tuesday, April 23, the final midweek of the season.

Barrow have three games in eight days from Saturday, but thankfully all of them are away from home, so Holker Street will get plenty of recovery time after last night.

But if another deluge falls in a fortnight’s time, what then?

You do not have to go back too far to find the last time City had to make it third time lucky in an away league game either.

It was a harsh winter in the 2020/21 campaign, and that put paid to the Bantams’ trip to Scunthorpe in the January, with the game called off while esteemed T&A reporter Simon Parker was halfway to the ground (his own fault for his baffling tendency to get to games over three hours before kick-off).

Not to worry, it was rearranged quickly, and take two was pencilled in for early February.

The game got underway at Glanford Park that night, but sadly it was literally a stop-start affair.

The poor staff at Scunthorpe had spent all day clearing snow off the field and by kick-off, their hard work looked to have paid off.

Sadly, a blizzard ensued as the game got underway, leading to farcical scenes of trying to pick out the City players as they got lost in the weather, wearing that season’s grey kit.

Poor referee David Rock tried his best, stopping the game midway through the first half to allow the pitch markings to be cleared of snow.

But without any let-up in the woeful weather, he was forced to concede defeat soon after restarting the game, abandoning proceedings after half-an-hour.

You can just about make out City's Gareth Evans in this farcical half-an-hour of action at Scunthorpe in February 2021. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

That meant this writer was parachuted in for attempt three, a horrid, bleak, chilly evening in Scunthorpe which saw the hosts comfortably win 2-0, with a bloke called Abo Eisa their best player by a mile.

The way the Bantams played that night, they might as well have handed Scunny the three points after the initial postponement in January.

Ironically, despite that being known as “the Covid season”, with crowds absent all year, it was the 2021-22 campaign which saw the disease cause another postponement farce.

This of course couldn’t be helped, but City had a bizarre run of no games for three weeks over the festive period.

After an absorbing 2-2 draw with Sutton on December 11, Covid cases running riot among the Bantams squad meant they had to miss away games at Carlisle and Walsall, as well a Boxing Day home clash against Harrogate.

Lee Angol scored this late equaliser for City at home to Sutton in December 2021, but then we didn't see either him or his team-mates for another three weeks. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

Ironically given this week’s news, their campaign resumed against Barrow on New Year’s Day, Andy Cook scoring the winner at Holker Street.

And finally, what about the game that surely should have been a case of third time lucky?

Perhaps there was pressure to get last season’s match at home to Rochdale on after it had been initially postponed due to a frozen pitch in December.

But the Valley Parade surface was surely in no fit state to host the rearranged fixture the following month?

There had been heavy rain in the build up to the Tuesday night clash, but the ground staff had worked their socks off to give the pitch a chance come 5pm.

But the corner areas were clearly problematic in front of the Midland Road stand and even after Mick Doyle and his team forked that section as best as they could, more rain pounding down by kick-off should have spelled an early night for all concerned.

It's pouring with rain, both players are covered in mud, and this is a still image, but it still looks like a stonewall penalty for City against Rochdale in January 2023... (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

Instead, on a horrendous pitch that was stodgy in parts, squelchy in others and a Midland Road touchline that kept getting the ball stuck, referee Paul Howard kept calm and played on.

Typically, on a night where pathetic fallacy did a lot of heavy lifting, a thoroughly miserable City were denied one seemingly blatant penalty, before having a hugely controversial one awarded against them moments later.

City lost 2-1 to their eventually-relegated visitors, emphatically bringing an end to a good spell which had seen home wins over Yorkshire rivals Harrogate and fellow promotion contenders Salford.

They did not win again for another month, had their next home game, against Carlisle, called off due to a frozen pitch, so was that ‘game that should never have been’ the fatal staller of the momentum they had built up in pursuit of automatic promotion?

It seems there is a postponement story for all seasons when it comes to City, and who knows what will happen with this latest one, given both Barrow and the Bantams seemingly only have one more shot at trying to get the game on?