Coventry City v Bradford City - Bantams fight for promotion set to go '˜down to the wire'

Bradford City are one of half- a-dozen clubs behind runaway leaders Sheffield United separated by just 10 points.

Fleetwood Town, on the back of an 18-game unbeaten run, occupy the second automatic promotion slot but Uwe Rosler’s men face a tough task today against fourth-placed Bolton Wanderers.

Scunthorpe United, on a shocking run of form, are the other side above Bradford in the table, while Millwall and Southend United sit either side of the line that separates the play-off places from the chasing pack.

“League One is a tight league,” said McArdle ahead of City’s visit to rock-bottom Coventry City.

“Sheffield United have made a bit of a break and are in really good form but, on the whole, most teams are capable of going on a run.

“We have seen that with a few clubs already this season. There are a couple of teams challenging who have games in hand but whether that is a good thing or not I am never sure.

“Often, having points on the board is more useful than being a couple behind with two games in hand.”

McArdle’s last point was underlined this week when Scunthorpe were surprisingly beaten at Charlton Athletic in one of their two games in hand on several of the promotion challengers.

“It will go right down to the wire,” added the Bantams defender.

“There will still be teams who are on good runs at the moment who will suffer a blip and vice versa.

“League One is so open but we must concentrate on ourselves. I know everyone looks at each other’s results but there is no point getting hung up over how this team or that team might get on.”

Coventry will contest the Checkatrade Trophy final next month but their league campaign has been abject and relegation seems a certainty even with 10 games remaining.

As for the Bantams, any talk of chasing the top two has been banished amid a need to focus on the task of accumulating points.

McArdle added: “You can’t look too far ahead.”