Oddities

Because I can't spend every waking second working on job applications, here's a bit of Tuesday afternoon trivia. In light of the Bantams' latest win this evening, there was a very interesting little statistic on twitter this morning about our record on Tuesdays, which has been extended today. Bradford City have now played twelve league games on Tuesdays this season, and haven't lost a single one of them (seven wins, five draws), but the most freakish thing about that run is that they have conceded a miserly two goals in the process.

Record (league games only) by days of the week:

Saturday: P26, W8 D6 L12, F38 A41

Monday: P1, W1 D0 L0, F3 A1

Tuesday: P12, W7 D5 L0, F14 A2

Wednesday: P2, W1 D1 L 0, F3 A2

Friday: P1, W0 D1 L0, F2 A2

(combined non-Saturday record: P16, W9 D7 L0, F22 A7)

The especially weird thing is that all five of the Tuesday draws were 0-0. On Saturdays, just two goals conceded in the eight wins, and a goal difference of -20 in Saturday defeats. Clearly, if the cup final was on a Tuesday, we'd have won. Or drawn 0-0 and won on penalties. And we should petition for the Chesterfield, Burton and Cheltenham games to be moved to midweek. Or perhaps an unexpected snowmageddon could cause re-scheduled games.

 (Including all  the cup games, the record on Tuesday is P23, W11 D9 L3, of which the three defeats were in extra-time at the FA Cup at Brentford with a second string out, a game at Crewe with a second string out in the JPT, and, last but not least, the famous 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa that sent them to Wembley)

The record on days of the week isn't the only odd thing you'll see. There was a post on Claret and Banter a while ago about the goalkeepers. I can't find it now, but I've updated the numbers. Look at the records with the two different goalies:

McLaughlin: P20, W10 D7 L3, F32 A16 (0.8 goals per game against)

Duke: P22, W7 D6 L9, F28 A32 (1.45 goals per game against)

I know from bitter Wednesday night experience that the goals against column is to some degree a function of the other players in front of you (as well as the holes in your game); the majority of Duke's appearances did come when Davies (and Meredith, to a lesser extent) was missing. But pause for thought.

Speaking of Meredith. He was a player everyone was raving about in the first half of the season. 'A steal' they said. 'He and Reid have such an understanding with each other, one overlapping the other'. I only saw him twice when home at Christmas, where he laboured, but since he was probably in the incubation period for glandular fever which caused him to miss two months of the season, that's not a surprise in hindsight.

With Meredith: P29, W15 D8 L6, F48 A32 (1.83 points per game, 83 points in 46 games. Promotion form)

Without: P13, W2 D5 L6, F12 A16 (0.85 points per game, 38 points in 46 games. Emphatic relegation form)

Fifteen of the team's seventeen wins have come with him in the side. In those fifteen wins, the side has conceded just six goals, and never more than one goal in a game. He appears to have given Kyel Reid a new lease of life since his return. Not surprising in a way, since the two most frequent stand-ins, McHugh and Good were converted centre-backs, unused to being in advanced positions. Take-home message: keep fit, JMc and JM!