Newport County continue life under an interim manager when they welcome Bradford City to Rodney Parade in League Two action on Saturday.
The hosts began life without the much-loved Michael Flynn with a comprehensive win last weekend, whilst the visitors bounced back from a poor run of form with a victory last time out themselves.
Match preview
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When the unexpected departure of Flynn was announced the day before the match last week, it would have been easy for the players to be distracted from their duties when they lined up against Scunthorpe United at Rodney Parade.
However, despite the obvious struggles of their opponents so far this season, Newport put in a solid performance to overcome them by a 3-0 scoreline, with goals from Oliver Cooper, Courtney Baker-Richardson and Dom Telford.
Acknowledged by the club as being the most successful period in the club's recent history, Flynn had led Newport to a memorable relegation escape, as well as successful cup runs in the FA Cup and EFL Cup during his four-and-a-half years at the club.
Assistant manager Wayne Hatswell took charge as a result of the manager's departure last weekend, and remains at the helm on an interim basis for the visit of Bradford on Saturday too, with the search for a new permanent manager continuing.
After taking part in two playoff campaigns in a search for promotion to League One in recent years, the Exiles have undergone a fairly disappointing start to the new campaign, finding themselves sitting in 12th place despite the win over Scunthorpe.
As for the visitors, they have undergone a fairly solid start to the season by their standards, as they are positioned in eighth place heading into the weekend, one place outside of the playoffs, but just one point off Leyton Orient in fourth.
Since returning to the fourth tier for the 2019-20 season, a ninth-placed finish in a suspended campaign due to the pandemic, followed by a 15th-placed finish last year, have meant that Bradford have failed to return to League One as soon as they would have liked.
Manager Derek Adams arrived in the summer with the task of achieving that return, and initially begun with a four-match unbeaten league run, which included three wins on the bounce in August.
However, last weekend's 2-0 win at home to Rochdale was their first since, which ended a seven-match winless streak in all competitions.
A first-half goal from Alex Gilliead, followed by a second-half penalty from Andy Cook, were enough to see the Bantams over the line in a match that could have gone either way, with their visitors missing a number of clear-cut opportunities.
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Team News
The hosts will remain without long-term absentees Scot Bennett and Courtney Senior when they welcome Bradford on Saturday.
Defender Priestley Farquharson is also likely to miss out after missing the last couple of games through injury himself.
However, Mickey Demetriou and Telford returned to the starting lineup, and after an impressive display and result, the interim manager Hatswell may be tempted to name an unchanged team.
Meanwhile, Bradford welcomed back Charles Vernam to their starting 11 for the win over Rochdale last week, who had missed the previous match through injury.
Niall Canavan, Caolan Lavery, Abo Eisa and Lee Angol are all expected to remain on the sidelines again for the visitors.
Manager Adams may also be tempted to name an unchanged lineup in search for back-to-back victories himself.
Newport County possible starting lineup:
Day; Clarke, Dolan, Demetriou; Norman, Willmott, Upson, Cooper, Haynes; Telford, Baker-Richardson
Bradford City possible starting lineup:
O'Donnell; Threlkeld, Songo'o, O'Connor, Ridehalgh; Watt, Sutton; Gilliead, Cooke, Vernam; Cook
We say: Newport County 2-1 Bradford City
This result may depend on how the Newport players continue to react after the departure of their manager last week. After a positive result on the following day last time out, we believe they can make it back-to-back wins under their interim boss, although it is likely to be a very even encounter between two similarly matched sides, so a tight affair is to be expected.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Newport County win with a probability of 43.53%. A win for Bradford City had a probability of 28.85% and a draw had a probability of 27.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Newport County win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.65%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.58%) and 2-0 (8.38%). The likeliest Bradford City win was 0-1 (9.78%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.95%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 9.6% likelihood.
