Bradford City have suffered a further injury blow after conducting a second knee scan for midfielder Antoni Sarcevic.
The 32-year-old arrived at Valley Parade this summer from League Two champions Stockport County and has been one of the highlights of The Bantams’ season so far. He provided an assist against Bromley but had missed out on City’s last two games against Grimsby Town and Newcastle United in the EFL Trophy.
Graham Alexander has since confirmed that Sarcevic could be out for “a month or two” after carrying a knock since the start of the season. It was then aggravated during the home opener against Salford City.
Speaking to the media ahead of their trip to Walsall this weekend, the former Preston North End midfielder said (Quotes via Telegraph and Argus): “We had a further scan and there’s a little bit more than first feared. He’s going to be out for a while longer unfortunately.
“We have to see how that settles down. But he’s probably not going to be available for a month or two. He played on it again and then again. It’s one of those when a player nurses a bit of soreness.
“Then he had a shot towards the end of the Salford game. The keeper saved it but he got shoved off the pitch and banged his knee as he landed.”
He joins defender Callum Johnson on the injury bench in West Yorkshire, with the former Mansfield Town player out with a calf injury. The right-back is expected to be out until the festive period, suffering a second major injury this year after missing the end of last season with a hamstring issue.
Alexander is confident that his side has the depth to cover Sarcevic in midfield, despite the release of Kevin McDonald and sale of Alex Gillead to Shrewsbury Town in the final hours of the transfer window. Captain Richie Smallwood, Alex Pattison, Jamie Walker, Clarke Odour and deadline-day signing Joe Adams are the remaining first-team choices in the middle of the pitch.
Alexander added: “We want to maintain that competition. I don’t want to be down to the bare bones if it ever got to that and it’s easy for me to pick the team.
“I want these decisions to make and we’ve certainly had that all the way through pre-season and into the start of the season.
“That is the most in-depth position in the squad. We purposely built it like that because we feel these players can play in other positions.
“We all want our players fit so we can have these decisions to make and unfortunately we’re not going to have Sarce for a bit.”
Calum Kavanagh and Aden Baldwin are also likely to miss a trip to the Midlands this weekend, with the latter engaging in light training with the medical team.
Writer’s View
Antoni Sarcevic being out is a big blow to Bradford City. Richie Smallwood is now the only true defensive midfielder at the club available now and whilst he has had a terrific start to this campaign, an injury to him would leave a massive hole in the middle of the park. City are stronger further forwards in Odour, Walker and Pattison, with all three contributing over recent weeks.
Luckily for Bradford, the next stretch of games does look fairly easier to those other sides competing at the top of the table. They face bottom side Morecambe and former manager Derek Adams as well as Yorkshire rivals Harrogate Town who are in the bottom five. On paper, these should be good games to pick up six points, but as proven last season, it is by no means a guarantee. Those results on the road ultimately cost The Bantams a shot at play-off football and Graham Alexander must be looking to right those wrongs to mount a challenge to finally get the club out of League Two.
1st Class Honours in Multimedia Journalism at Salford University. Writing mainly about League Two.
