Bantams not scored in opening league game since relegation

Who was their last scorer in the first league game of the season?

Here’s a clue; it wasn’t 12 months ago – or the year before that.

In fact, you can skip through three more season-openers and still won’t stumble on the answer.

The name you are looking for is Jack Payne. The date was August 4, 2018.

Game one of Edin Rahic’s experiment with Michael Collins thrust into the lead role worked out rather well with a 1-0 win at Shrewsbury.

It was the most fleeting of successes before a plummet towards relegation that City are still trying to recover from.

This will be the sixth consecutive season in League Two. We all know the maths.

And the Bantams are still looking for a goal on day one since slipping back into the fourth tier.

The five previous season-openers have delivered four goalless draws on the bounce before last term’s miserable loss in the rain at Crawley.

City have fired blanks in the lot of them – a barren run stretching back 521 minutes or eight-and-a-half hours since Payne hit the net to herald the falsest of dawns at the New Meadow.

They have been stifled staggeringly long in the meantime.

Will Saturday at Stadium MK end the drought?

August 2019: CITY 0 CAMBRIDGE 0

James Vaughan's overhead kick came back off the bar (Image: Thomas Gadd)

City could not break down 10 men as their first game back in the basement division ended in a dour draw under Gary Bowyer.

James Vaughan smacked the bar with an overhead kick. But it was one of only three shots they could muster against visitors who played the last half hour with a numerical disadvantage from Liam O’Neil’s red card.

September 2020: CITY 0 COLCHESTER 0

Stuart McCall breaks the silence at an empty Valley Parade (Image: Thomas Gadd)
A first realisation of just how boring a goalless draw could be in front of an empty stadium.

Fans were consigned to the front room because of the pandemic as the behind-closed-doors season began on a flat note.

Of the four efforts on target, Lee Novak had the best after being set up by Dylan Mottley-Henry.

August 2021: EXETER 0 CITY 0

Levi Sutton tries to force the ball home from close range (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Fans were back and 685 made the long haul to Devon to see the new beginning under Derek Adams.

The anticipation was high after the Scot had just taken Morecambe up and initial signs looked promising.

But there were only three shots on target – the big opportunity falling to Andy Cook who was denied by a superb double save from Cameron Dawson before Lee Angol fluffed the rebound.

July 2022: CITY 0 DONCASTER 0

A whopping Valley Parade crowd were bored senseless (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Valley Parade’s biggest crowd in the fourth tier, 19,368, saw a dog of a derby game.

Doncaster came to stifle from the start and the mood dropped when Emmanuel Osadebe was stretchered off minutes into his debut – a double leg break caused by a reckless challenge from Liam Ravenhill.

Lee Tomlin’s comedy dismissal left the visitors happy to plant everyone behind the ball.

City managed just two efforts directly on goal – but that was still one more that dour Donny.

August 2023: CRAWLEY 1 CITY 0

Debutant Daniel Oyegoke gets his marching orders (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Finally a goal – but not one City or Harry Lewis would want to remember.

Will Wright’s long-range free-kick early on was enough for a Crawley team condemned as relegation favourites before a ball had been kicked. What’s that about bookies never being wrong?

Daniel Oyegoke was sent off before half-time for two soft bookings and ref Thomas Parsons showed 11 other yellow cards.

City did have half a dozen shots on target – double that of the hosts – but never looked like scoring in a wretched performance that matched the weather.

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