On this week’s show, The YP’s football writers, Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall, pick over the bones of another surrender at Bramall Lane by Sheffield United – a ‘dreadful’ performance against Arsenal seeing them crash to a 6-0 defeat on Monday.
Also, they discuss why Leeds United are so well-positioned for their push for automatic promotion from the Championship and how Sheffield Wednesday – under the excellent Danny Rohl – have given themselves an excellent chance of avoiding relegation from the second tier after such a pitiful start to the campaign.
Andre Breitenreiter’s impressive start at Huddersfield Town also comes under the spotlight as do Bradford City’s fading play-off chances in League Two following their derby stalemate with Doncaster Rovers.
PLUS Stuart and Leon pick their respective Team of the Week and Player of the Week …
Also, they discuss why Leeds United are so well-positioned for their push for automatic promotion from the Championship and how Sheffield Wednesday – under the excellent Danny Rohl – have given themselves an excellent chance of avoiding relegation from the second tier after such a pitiful start to the campaign.
Andre Breitenreiter’s impressive start at Huddersfield Town also comes under the spotlight as do Bradford City’s fading play-off chances in League Two following their derby stalemate with Doncaster Rovers.
PLUS Stuart and Leon pick their respective Team of the Week and Player of the Week …
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:11 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members of our football writing team.
00:19 On this week's episode we're joined by Chief Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Neil Marshall, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs.
00:29 Don't forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging onto our website at yp.sport@nationalworld.com, as well as checking out our various Twitter feeds, the main one being @ypsport.
00:42 If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well.
00:48 And if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as football talk podcast at yp.sport@nationalworld.com.
00:59 YorkshirePost.co.uk
01:01 As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week we're joined by Chief Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wobbshaw. Good morning guys.
01:09 Morning.
01:10 Right, this week we saw Middlesbrough see their drop in performances continue with a 2-0 defeat against Stoke City. Hull City maintained their place in the top six with a 0-0 draw against Preston North End.
01:26 Harrogate Town had to settle for a point in their 1-1 draw against Swindon Town, and Barnsley played out a 2-1 draw when they met Bolton Wanderers.
01:34 However, let's start in the Premier League, where Shufford United suffered a devastating 6-0 defeat when they welcomed Arsenal to Bramall Lane.
01:43 We know that the Blades will be playing in the Championship next season, but how did Chris Wilder's men approach the remainder of the season so that they go down with some pride, Stuart?
01:54 Well, they've just got to approach it better than that. I mean, it was really, really poor. I mean, even last week we were talking about on the podcast about that they'd played with a bit of pride at Wolves.
02:07 We've been banging on and banging on about how they really have to show some fight in what's left of the season, but the last few home games have just been dreadful. Four matches, 21 goals conceded.
02:23 And to be honest with you, I think often when we look at Shufford United, probably the same applies to Rotherham, you take the results out of the equation because better teams than Sheffield United are losing by fives and sixes to Arsenal right now.
02:39 They're an outstanding team on really good form. But goal after goal, they just, either whilst outside or inside the full-back, got to the byline, pulled the ball back, had a shot, more often than not scored, rinse and repeat.
02:55 It was just far, far too easy for them. And it's becoming a real worrying pattern because if you look at the season as a whole, they started the campaign with a bit of fight about them and it seemed to be ground out of them towards the end of Paul Ekinbottom's time.
03:15 There were some really, really poor performances towards the end. He ended up getting sacked. Chris Wilder comes in, we saw some real fights, some real things to cling to against the likes of Liverpool, Brentford, Wolves, things like that.
03:31 And again, at Bramall Lane at least, it just seems to have been knocked out of them. I was thinking back, and obviously Leon's seen some of the games, I've seen some of the games, but off the top of my head I was thinking of five really poor performances, not results, performances this season.
03:50 Newcastle at home after the first 20 minutes or so, Bournemouth at home even though I think that was only three, Burnley away was just disgraceful, Aston Villa at home and now this Arsenal game.
04:05 The worrying thing is that four of those five games have been at Bramall Lane where they get such good support and yet the last couple of games we've seen people leaving before half-time. I just really worry because obviously Chris Wilder's been brought in to do this rebuilding job.
04:24 He really needs to do it. He's a man of great experience. We've seen his managerial quality. If they keep on producing performances like this, it's going to be hard to continue. I don't think we're at that point yet, I would stress that.
04:38 There's 11 games left and if they don't pull their socks up, they're going to be forced into a situation where they have to make a decision they don't want to make. Obviously everybody within the football club's got to do better but the biggest onus has got to be on those players.
04:56 They've got to really look at themselves. I thought it was really telling on Monday that four of the five players he substituted, Wilder, were four of his most experienced players. He brought up Oli Norwood, he brought up Oli McBurnie, he brought up Tom Davies and earlier in the second half he brought up his captain, a centre-back, to bring on a 20-year-old midfielder.
05:19 That's just damning about the lack of leadership in that squad. Those players really have to look at themselves and ask, are they doing enough? To lose even 6-0 to Arsenal can happen when you're on your game and you're at it. But they made it so, so easy for Arsenal to be 5-0 up at half-time. It's just unacceptable.
05:46 They've got to look at themselves in the mirror, Stuart. There's a few of those, Armadog Cic and other senior players who've been there in the times of plenty. This is the other way. If you're going to have a long career in the game, unfortunately these things happen time to time. You have to show pride in your own personal performance.
06:09 You need to show pride in the supporters that are turning out and be able to look yourself in the mirror at the end of the working day, whether that's a training session, whether that's a league game at the end of the working week. It's just simply not been good enough, has it? I think the worrying thing is, you mentioned the Newcastle game, I did that. You've had the misfortune to do a few more of the batterings than I have.
06:36 It's the amount of easy goals that they've conceded that's worrying for me. I go back to the Newcastle game and it wasn't just poor defensive goals. It was just midfielders not tracking the runners. Basic stuff that you're taught when you become an academy player or when you start your footballing career.
06:59 The basics, tracking runners, having an organisation that set plays and marking players, passing on an opponent to another. Elementary stuff that every professional, whether it's League 2, the Championship, Premier League, should be aware of.
07:16 In fairness, the Villa game, I saw some of that. To be fair, a few of those goals were worldies, weren't they, really? But the ones against Arsenal were incredibly soft and incredibly poor. I just think the players have got to look themselves in the mirror. The senior ones, they'll know it's not been good enough.
07:36 I suppose if they need an example, just look at Jack Robinson. He didn't have a great game, but at least he was obviously looking at his own performance and his commitment levels. In trying circumstances, he seemed to give everything.
07:56 If they want to look at a player to follow, it's him. It was a difficult day. He cared for the jersey and you could see it was hurting him. Look at the sort of games they've got, especially the younger players. They've got games against the likes of Man United, Liverpool. Obviously, they're going to be tough.
08:21 As a young player, you get an opportunity there. Just try and wring every bit out of it and don't be let down in your preparation and what you give on the pitch. You just hope that there's enough hurt in that dressing room, especially on the senior players.
08:37 At least in terms of their attitude and their work ethic, just drag them through the remaining games of the season and don't let themselves down and don't let the younger players down and don't let the supporters down. That should be a given, shouldn't it? They've had some desperately poor days.
08:59 One of the more concerning things, Leon mentioned the Newcastle game and that started this trend of conceding goals in clusters. As I said earlier, I think it was 0-0 about a quarter of the game through, wasn't it, Leon?
09:16 Yes, it was.
09:34 It's something that Chris Wilder referred to a couple of times after the Aston Villa game. It's something he's very aware of. It's undoubtedly something he's made them very aware of. You look at the goals against Arsenal. Arsenal hit the crossbar in the second minute, then we've got a goal after five minutes, a goal after 13 minutes, a goal after 15 minutes, a goal after 25 minutes. The roof just keeps coming in.
10:00 Leon talks about the basics. One of the basics, particularly when you're in that situation, is when you've conceded a goal, no matter what the circumstance is, you just make absolutely certain…
10:13 …you're welcoming the door.
10:14 Exactly. Leon mentioned the quality of some of the goals in the Villa game, but even most of them, if you look at them, there wasn't much pressure on the man on the ball. The runner got away from them. Even when teams are scoring good goals, they're made too easy for them by the lack of pressure on the ball and the lack of fire.
10:38 Leon's absolutely right. Jack Robinson really stood out that night, just for doing the basics. I don't mean this disparagingly, but Jack Robinson is not the most talented defender in that squad by quite a long way, but he's easily the best this season because he just gives everything he's got to give.
11:00 As I say, he does the basics. He shows absolute commitment. He's really the only one of those senior players who didn't get the hook. That says something. Chris Wilder talked afterwards about, I think you'll see a lot more of the young players now. I think supporters will be pleased to hear that you often hear in these sort of situations, throw the kids in.
11:22 There's been a bit of a reluctance to do that for the damage it might do to them, but I think Chris Wilder's just reached the end of his tether. He basically said after the game, "It wasn't any worse, it actually got better." Is that the situation where he's in danger of really losing faith in some of these senior players?
11:42 Some of whom, of course, a lot of whom have had to contract in the summer and should be, from a purely selfish perspective, should be thinking, "I really need to earn myself a new contract." But they're long and they're short of it. With the risk of sounding like Roy Keane, it's their job. They're not doing what they're paid to do ultimately by the people who come and pay at the gate and pay their TV subscriptions.
12:10 It's just unacceptable. When you see them win at Luton a couple of weeks ago and you see what they're capable of away from Bramall Lane, clearly they're the worst team in the league. The league table tells you that, but they're not as bad as they're playing at their worst now. They've just got to cut these all-too-regular days out.
12:34 I think the worry, just quickly, psychologically, next season, going to be in the Championship, no doubt about that. Some of these beatings for the players that have remained, in terms of the psyche of next season, a bedrock of successful Sheffield United teams in the past. There's been home form going into Bramall Lane. A tough arena to go. You don't get any free lunches there.
13:00 Last season, under Paul Heggenbom, that was shown in the times of plenty under Chris Wilder. They've took that many beatings there, haven't they, this season? The ones that stay, there's going to be a bit of a spillover. Even the size of the face in the Championship, they'll probably look at the results and think, "Hey, maybe it's not that tough a place to come after all." Look at them last season. Look at some of the hidings and mud sticks in that regard.
13:28 Going forward, just try and get back to that picture of Bramall Lane being a tough arena, hard to go to. You don't get free points given. It's going to take a big turnaround, isn't it? They've taken some serious beatings there this season.
13:52 You talk about the players, Liam. It's that time of year for supporters everywhere. You've got to decide about whether to renew your season tickets. If you've left before half-time in two of the last three games, you're forking out all this money for something you're not enjoying. It's hard for you to go home and just get tied to the wife and say, "Look, I'm going to renew my season ticket."
14:14 As Liam says, whether it be empty seats or just apathetic fans, it totally dilutes Sheffield United's big strength, which they are going to need next season.
14:28 That's going to be the worry. Early season, they go and get down. Then they suffer a 3-0 defeat in September, early season in August. Then it will be really toxic and a bit poisonous. They've got to be aware of that a bit further down the line. There's that potential for that to spill over into next season if they're not careful.
14:50 Next, we turn our attention to Leeds United, who first bowed out of the FA Cup after losing 3-2 with a spirited performance against Chelsea, which was then followed up by a 1-0 draw when they paid a visit to Huddersfield Town. After that, they then played out a 1-0 victory when they faced Stoke City.
15:09 What was your assessment of the games and how could they go into their game against Sheffield Wednesday, Liam?
15:15 It's going to be a tough game, isn't it? Sheffield Wednesday, what a story that Danny Rowles is producing there. I just think Leeds are having to find a way, however it goes really. Stuart did the game on Tuesday against Stoke. By all accounts, it sounded to be a bit of a grind. Ultimately, it's just about the point.
15:38 You look at the top of the table and it's incredible, isn't it? I can remember a few seasons where Sheffield United and Leeds were going for it. Chris Wilder and Bielsa and Norwich as well. That was a real strong three-horse race.
15:57 I'm old enough to remember even further than that, years ago with the Howard Wilkies and the Dave Bassett times and Newcastle as well. Three teams going for two spots. It's even more fascinating and intense this year, isn't it?
16:15 We've got four teams. You've got Leicester, St Anthony, Ipswich and Leeds. You look at Ipswich, we've spoken before. There was a little bit of a talk just after Christmas, the start of the new year. Well, they'll go away now. Their reaction has been magnificent, hasn't it?
16:35 They're great buying Keith Lamar. He's got the potential of going seriously long and all the way. At the minute, it's just about if you can play well with a bit of style, that's great. That's a bonus. You can imagine the Leeds players getting in after beating Stoke.
16:58 Half of Ipswich done, half less than that sort of thing. You look at Ipswich, they've scored a lot of late goals. That's a big thing. In a Perotian race, it's a wonderful habit to have.
17:15 I think Leeds were always going to have this period where they were going to have to really dig in. There was obviously the short turnaround from Chelsea. It was a sort of cup game. A very high profile game. You look at the history between the two clubs, Leeds and Chelsea. Leeds couldn't just go there and play the reserves and just have a bit of fun.
17:37 There was always something on that game. As Stuart rightly said last week, there were 5,500 supporters in the shed. It was difficult for them at Huddersfield. Huddersfield really got in the faces, it's fair to say, and doubled up on Leeds as attacking players. It didn't make it easy for them at all. It was quite a stopped start.
18:01 One or two probably pushed the boundaries, but they were quite… Jonathan Hogg and Massey Pearson especially. You certainly knew that they knew it was a derby. That's probably the best way of putting it. Hogg was daft, wasn't he, with the elbow. I thought Pearson was a little bit fortunate.
18:26 You've got to credit Huddersfield as well. I think across the pitch they were very well organised, broke the play well and smothered out Leeds as flare players. Just look at the division. Leeds were going for a club record 10th straight league win. They won 9, 28 points from 30 and then they find themselves out of the automatic promotion positions after the draw on Thursday.
18:55 You've just got to show a strong jaw and just find a way. Obviously Leeds, Huddersfield and Warnick, Derby and everything, and obviously the other results, but at least they didn't lose.
19:11 They could have easily even lost that game. They got something from it, you take it and you move on. Daniel Farke had one or two issues with the pitch with Huddersfield's approach, but to be fair he acknowledged that they defended brilliantly after going down to 10 men.
19:35 One of those days for Leeds, but credibly they hit back straight away against Stoke. I know you were at that game, Stuart. I couldn't understand what Parker was saying in talking up that win because it was a little bit of a test for them after what happened at the weekend.
19:53 I'm sure Stoke looked at Huddersfield's tactics and they're struggling a bit. Teams are going to do that against Leeds, they're not going to go out and turn it into a basketball match and say you attack, we attack. They're going to clog up spaces, make it difficult, make it stop/start and that's just the way it's going to be.
20:13 It's only last week, although it was three Leeds games ago, that we were talking about there will be a wobble. It's how Leeds react. I think both of us when we were talking about the wobble, we were talking about a significant Leeds defeat to recover from. It's huge credit to them that we're talking a couple of games into this wobble and they're still unbeaten in 2024. That is a real sign of a top side.
20:39 As Leon quite rightly says, the performance of Ipswich to miss a late penalty at 2-2 and still beat Bristol City 3-2 shows that they have to be at this level because the other teams are as well. It was really good to see because just looking from afar, the Huddersfield game looks a real struggle.
21:03 When you're playing against 10 men against a team down at the other end of the table for that long, you do expect to win but clearly Leeds were quite a long way from their best and they were a long way from their best against Stoke. They had a period of about 15-20 minutes when they were really good. A lot of the rest of the game, Stoke were the better side but they've got four points from those games.
21:29 As Leon says, it's all about the results. That's the name of the game. It's really encouraging but as we speak now, this run is not over. It was about really a chunk of four games in 10 days. We'll talk a bit more about Sheffield Wednesday later but to go to Hillsborough to finish this run is going to be a heck of a test.
21:53 They looked short on energy on Tuesday. They might need to freshen the score up a bit because Sheffield Wednesday were all about energy under Danny Rowe, especially at Hillsborough. It could be that on the next podcast we're reflecting on this unbeaten run coming to an end. It's that big a test for them.
22:13 The character they have shown. That Chelsea game was kind of an ideal game in a lot of respects. We said beforehand they were going to have to give everything but they deserved to win. They didn't win but actually, let's be brutally honest, it pains me to say it with it being the FA Cup but actually to go out under those circumstances was probably the best thing for Leeds really.
22:39 Not having the extra game but being able to go out with a head held high. This is a really testing run for them and it's not over yet. The character they're showing week after week. I mentioned in the report they played at the end of the game as soon as it finished. Joy Division, obviously a sarcastic reference to the terrorist song Leeds are falling apart.
23:05 This Leeds team has a lot about it. You just do not get the impression. They might not be good enough because Ipswich, Southampton and Leicester are setting such a high standard but you really get the impression that this isn't a team that's going to crumble and fall apart whatever happens.
23:21 I think that's the thing Stuart, don't panic. They could go to Sheffield Wednesday and hope there's not a massive overreaction. If they went there and even if they got a point it wouldn't be. Obviously you get all the mood music on Twitter but in the circumstances it probably wouldn't be that bad a point would it really?
23:47 You're going to get some ups and downs in this run and that's for sure. Some of it could be who holds the nerve the best really in terms of getting a defeat and hitting back straight away. I've spoken about it before. I remember Paul Warnock saying it's not about getting beat, it's about your reaction and not getting beat back to back.
24:09 As much as this promotion race is about talent and character skill, it's about bottle isn't it and character because there's some well matched sides there at the top in Leeds, Southampton and even Leicester and Ipswich. None of them really look like they're going to go away and it's just going to go really long.
24:33 Unfortunately we've spoken about it many times. Daniel Farker is pretty much the calmest man in the building in terms of everything connected with Leeds. He's done this before at Norwich. He's well aware of the crunch time of the season and what it takes. He's got the dressing room right.
24:57 That's the good thing about Leeds. They've got a strong jaw for me and they don't look aside as Stuart said who are going to give it away.
25:05 Just a word on Huddersfield. A really good start to Andre Brighton-Wright's reign. As Leon says, they pushed the boundaries a bit in that Leeds game. To start with four points from his first two games, really good. Really encouraging.
25:25 It was really well to see that they went to Watford and it was all about the front foot attacking play. Then they had a game where because of Jonathan Hogg's daft couple of seconds they really had to dig in and they showed that they can dig in.
25:41 You look at the results they had at the weekend, Huddersfield got a great draw against Leeds and still dropped. It's a similar story at the bottom of the table. Teams who have been really struggling suddenly in the spring are capable of doing some incredible things and you've just got to keep up with them. It's been a really good start by Brighton-Wright in that respect.
26:05 I agree with that. I like what he said as well. He's not really worrying about the table too much at the minute. He's come in, he wants to see, let's get the performances right and what I want. Then further down the line we'll worry about the table. There's been encouragement. They have a great result at Watford.
26:25 In the circumstances, a tremendous point against Leeds where they give absolutely everything to get something from that game in testing circumstances. It's an encouraging start for them.
26:40 Next our attention turns to Sheffield Wednesday who claimed a much needed three points with a 1-0 victory over Rotherham United which was then followed by a 1-0 win when they clashed with Plymouth Argyle. This now means the Owls are still inside the drop zone but only on goal difference. It's safe to say that this is an incredibly close fight for survival at the bottom of the division. What were your thoughts on the game Stuart?
27:05 I think it just underlined to me how far Sheffield Wednesday have come. I was looking after the game and I took the Leicester game where Sheffield Wednesday drew with Leicester early in Danny Rowe's reign as the starting point because it felt like that was when Danny Rowe's time got going. If the league had started then, they'd be in the play-off positions now.
27:29 A) that's incredible in itself and B) it's incredible that that sort of form hasn't even got them out of the relegation zone yet which shows you what a massive head start they gave everyone else. They don't look like a team in the relegation zone, certainly the way they played against Rotherham the other day.
27:52 They did lack a bit of a clinical edge which is an odd thing to say when you think they've got a striker in Ike O'Bose who's come in and scored so many goals. They had a goal wrongly disallowed and they hit the post later on so it might have been more comfortable than a 1-0 win but it certainly wasn't comfortable which is credit to Rotherham.
28:15 They're just showing the advantage of getting a really good coaching. They didn't make all the signings they wanted in January, they didn't move out all the players they wanted in January but Roller's worked with the players he's got. He's really got the best out of them. There's a really good understanding between them and they play some really good football.
28:36 I would be pretty confident that over the course of this season they're going to get their heads up in water but again a bit like Huddersfield, they came in after a good result. They saw that Stoke had won, they saw that Millwall had won and they saw that QPR had won at Leicester City. That's the nature of it at the moment. It's really relentless at both ends.
28:58 You can't afford, as we were saying about Leeds, when you have a bad result along the way, you just can't afford to let it bleed into two or three games. Wednesday right now is showing really good consistency. That's five wins out of six I think it is as we speak now. Four on the trots.
29:18 A couple of weeks ago we were saying they're really good at home but they're letting themselves down away. They've beaten Millwall and Rotherham now away from home. They're not the full package but they're certainly moving towards that.
29:32 I think the interesting thing might be when they get out of the relegation zone. They're still the hunter aren't they really? They need to do get out of it. They'll be the hunter but given what they've shown under Danny Rowney, you'd back them to handle it.
29:50 There's a lot of impressive things. I like the fact that they've had contributions from across the squad. I think there's just a lot of character that's grown there in a real short space of time. The dressing room has got really strong.
30:08 I look at some of the early games under Romain. It was a slow start. I think they lost 4-0 at home to Millwall. They lost a game at Birmingham and I was in his press conference last week. I think he was referencing after that game that it was at the end of November or start of December.
30:28 They were 13 points adrift of fourth from bottom. That's a pretty dire position. It was dire before it came in. You still look at it. The first win was against Rotherham at the end of November. It was incredible.
30:44 After that Birmingham game it looked dire. They produced a really good response before Christmas. They drew at Leicester and I think they got 10 points from about 15. You look at them this year as well. I did the Huddersfield game and they just went to pieces in the second half defensively for about 15 minutes.
31:08 I can't struggle to tell if I've ever seen anything like it really. You really did worry for them. It was a massive low. To show such character and spirit to hit back from that and they've had five wins from six.
31:26 It speaks a lot about the coaching of Ron. In terms of the unity and spirit he's got in there, as much as anything else. It's becoming one of the stories of the Championship season. What he's doing there.
31:48 We're all privileged to see what happened at Huddersfield in the last third of last season under Neil Warnock. This is becoming a really special story. It should be a great occasion and a great game against Leeds. It's a real spicy one. They're obviously needing points for different reasons.
32:14 That'll be a fascinating one. Sheffield Wednesday at the minute, they're going to really relish it, aren't they? They're not going to go in there and feel cowed at all. All power to them, especially given some of the tough results they've had. It's been remarkable stuff.
32:36 We talked about their neighbours earlier, that Huddersfield game. It was a collapse in the last 20 minutes or so. That should probably have been the breaking of them. Danny Earl talked to Leon afterwards and said about how the dressing room bonded together after that. They've won every game since. It's been the making of them.
33:00 I think one thing I would say is that on the character of the squad, with the greatest of respect, I don't think that's anything Danny Earl has built. I think we saw that under Darren Moore last season. He's preserved it though. It can easily be lost, this sort of spirit.
33:16 Particularly when you think he's alienated in terms of appearances. A couple of members of the squad basically said, "I don't want you involved." He's obviously done that in a clever way. I think the fact that he's kept a couple of squad places open and that the door is not completely shut on the likes of Lee Gregory. They still have something to train for.
33:44 They still have something to do. Obviously, the epitome of that spirit, we saw that in the play-off comeback against Peterborough United. We saw that spirit there. It could easily have been lost in the way they started the season. Credit to those professionals and credit to the wider group. They've preserved that.
34:10 That gives me a bit of encouragement. If and when they do go from being the hunters to the hunted, they will be able to cope with that. There's some really good senior players guiding some talented young players there.
34:26 Bradford City is where we turn our attention to next, who played out a 1-1 draw when they faced Doncaster Rovers. This now sees the Bantams seven points off the play-off spots. What did you make of the performances from both teams, Leon?
34:43 It was pretty stodgy, a bit like the pitch from Bradford City. They looked a team that hadn't played in the league for about 17 days. They've had a couple of postponements. In fairness, the pitch was okay. They were fortunate in their respect that there was no rain on Monday and Tuesday.
35:09 The goalmars were heavily sanded but the ball seemed to run well. Grant McCann was there before the game watching his players train. I think he had an eagle eye on the pitch. To be fair, I think he stood up well. He actually said afterwards that the pitch at Walsall on Saturday was worse. The one at Bradford was a bit flatter.
35:32 In fairness, Doncaster played really well in the first half. Over the course of the piece, they should have won. They just couldn't get that second goal which I think would have killed Bradford off. They couldn't get going. Bradford looked a little bit rusty, especially in the first half.
35:56 The Rovers were good value for the goal from Molineux. They played some good stuff on the surface. I was impressed by young Craig in midfield. He looked a player to watch. He was really bright and busy. He took care of the ball. He had a good range of passing.
36:18 I think if they had got a second goal, that would have been it. Bradford dug in. They made some changes on the hour mark. Tyler Smith came on and a couple of other changes as well. Smith got the goal near the end. I think in the end it was probably a good draw for Bradford.
36:44 I think it probably worked against them. They have not played for two weeks. They lacked a bit of rhythm. I thought the selection in midfield, Miss Richie Smallwood, had Clark Adore and Kerry MacDonald just as a two in the middle of a centre midfield. That didn't particularly work for me. I prefer Adore a little bit further forward as more like a ten.
37:11 I think a straight two in a midfield two doesn't suit him. Fair play to Bradford. They got something out of the game. It wasn't the best game for Callum Cavanagh. I wasn't going for him. He came off. Smith came on and got a goal.
37:31 I think the good thing from a Rovers perspective is, I know they lost on Saturday at Walsall, but I don't think they played particularly badly. They look a team who might be able to have a little bit of fun between now and the end of the season.
37:46 I think they are a team that if you are, unfortunately, a little bit far away from the top seven, even though it looks really open still for a couple of spots, but if you are going for the top seven and you are playing a Doncaster side who do have some talented players but they have underachieved this season, it could be a difficult afternoon.
38:09 That's got to be the hope for Rovers now. Just try and get some momentum and some positivity in the last bit of the season, which is something that they probably haven't got in the last three seasons. Just so they can take something into the summer.
38:23 Of course, they have got some talented footballers on the day. Molyneux is a nice player on his game. A few others as well. There was some optimism for Rovers. Bradford just got something on a difficult night. I think that's probably the best way to put it.
38:42 I felt for Bradford a bit because I covered the footballing turf against Wigga what feels like absolutely ages ago. To lose that in the circumstances it did, you came away from that game thinking 'I'd like to see the reaction to this' and they've had to wait such a long time to react.
39:02 That's been a bit unfortunate. Every team has their moments of bad luck. They've boxed themselves into a position where they've got a lot of catching up to do anyway. It feels like, certainly for Doncaster and probably in all honesty for Bradford, it's going to be a bit of a nothing season in terms of the playoffs being out of reach for both of them.
39:27 But there's never a nothing season. Leon's written before about Howard County Park. They've got a league table up, haven't they? They've had a league table since February. That's the way they're motivating themselves.
39:40 I think what Leon's just said is absolutely spot on. The way that Doncaster finished this season, the way that they've finished recent seasons, has been really poor and has really had a knock-on effect. If they can just get some momentum going, if they can just build some belief on the terraces and on the field, it can snowball and it can be the start of next season's promotion push.
40:09 For both teams, again, Leon used a good phrase, 'have some fun'. They should both be really positive about these last games of the season. Have some fun. Really get some momentum together and that's the way they've got to look at it.
40:28 If in Bradford's case, the absolute best-case scenario happens and they land themselves in the playoffs, they do so in the best health possible. But they should just look at the smaller picture of just enjoying winning football games and building relationships as players.
40:47 I think most sensible Bradford fans would, ideally, want to get into the playoffs. But given the season that they've had, there was a hangover after the playoff failure. It didn't go for them at all in the opening third and opening half of the season, if you extend that.
41:09 If they can finish the season with some good entertaining football, some good results, a bit of fun and a bit of momentum, then they can take that into next season, can't they? Everyone knows that they shouldn't be at this level historically, but in the here and now, they are.
41:27 If you look at the timing at this level, there's only one season that they've got in the playoffs and that was last year. Quite a few of the previous seasons have faded out. You want that sort of positivity there, as you do with Rovers.
41:41 Stuart mentioned earlier about players being out of contact at Sheffield United, as they are going to be at a lot of clubs. Doncaster have got a lot of players who were up in the summer. It's their time now to say, "Look, I want to stay. I want to play for something else." That's going to be a big side of it for me.
42:04 Thankfully, the last few seasons have been really grim and you've been clutching at straws to get anything positive at Doncaster. There just looks to be a little bit of a chink of light at the minute.
42:19 Finally for this week, I turn to Stuart for his Player of the Week before looking to Leon for his Team of the Week. Stuart, who has caught your attention this week?
42:29 I mentioned him earlier and I think Ike Upo has really stood out for Sheffield Wednesday. It's incredible to think that he only joined them on loan in mid-January and he's already the club's top goalscorer.
42:49 That's just ludicrous. Ultimately, his goal against Rotherham was the difference between the two teams and then he followed that up by creating the only goal of a 1-0 win against Plymouth.
43:07 He's got six goals now in his last six games. It's really taken the pressure and expectation off of Bayley Kadamati. It was always going to be difficult for a player who's new to the team from the youth ranks to carry that goal-scoring burden for Sheffield Wednesday.
43:32 So, they did need somebody to come in and I think it's fair to say, even though he'd played English football before, people weren't dancing on the ceiling about the idea of Upo being the answer to all their problems.
43:47 But he's come in and he's done a really good job for Sheffield Wednesday. I should probably mention a couple of others. Brodie Spencer, we know what a difficult job it is chasing after Leeds United wingers.
44:01 He's been ill for a lot of the week as well. To come in and show that sort of character. He looks like a real leader for Huddersfield Town's future. It's been really good to see the way he's performed ever since he's got back from his loan spell.
44:23 He's continued to do really good things and it was good to see Corey O'Keefe get on the score sheet for them. But Upo, for me, is the one who stands out right now as the player of the week.
44:35 Leon, which team stood out for you this week?
44:39 I think it's worth mentioning a couple. I'm going to say Huddersfield. They've had a very good start under Andre Brighton-Wright. Not too many people would have had them down to get a point against Leeds.
44:55 Not especially after losing a player on the stroke of half-time. You'd think some Huddersfield fans are thinking, "Well, here we go, the second half. Leeds are going to pile it on and we're probably going to lose."
45:07 But yeah, he spoke a lot about what he's done there in a short space of time. They look like they've got the mojo back a little bit. I think in fairness, you have to credit John Worthington as well.
45:23 Before Brighton-Wright came in, because he's re-energised the side. Huddersfield going along nicely enough. Barnsley as well, even though there was a major disappointment at the end against Bolton.
45:40 They didn't lose and they've got a very good winner at Wickham who was strong at home the weekend. Barnsley still in a pretty good place but it's impossible to acknowledge Sheffield Wednesday, isn't it?
45:54 With a 5-6 win. As I pointed out earlier, at the start of February they took a real psychologically damaging hit at Huddersfield and to turn it around straight away with five wins out of six is all power to everything that Danny Rowell's been about.
46:20 It's become a terrific story so you've got to say Sheffield Wednesday.
46:25 Some people by the time they're listening to it might have seen that game but it's a fascinating game on Friday. It'd be really interesting to see the character of both sides in a really big derby.
46:36 The game is on Friday. We'll be back with more from the game.
46:40 Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobtrell who will doubtless join us again soon for more discussions on the Yorkshire football scene.
46:55 Don't forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging on to our website at yp.sport@nationalworld.com
47:02 Or if you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook you can find us there as well.
47:08 If you have any questions for our writers you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages or email us directly with a subject matter at footballtalkpodcast@yp.sport@nationalworld.com
47:20 As ever, many thanks for listening, look after yourselves and bye for now.
47:24 [Music]