Bradford City v Northampton Town: Eisa brothers hope the tough times are over

Growing up in north London, the Bradford City winger, 26, and his older brother Mo, a striker at MK Dons, played football in the inner city suburb of King's Cross before moving onto the Pro Touch Soccer Academy in the capital.

When Mo, now 28, tried his hand as a midfielder, Abo followed. The same would apply if he moved to striker or the wing. Or anywhere.

Their career graph would see both dip their toes into non-league waters before being handed Football League opportunities out west.

In Abo's case, it was at Shrewsbury after spells at St Albans, Uxbridge and Wealdstone. Mo, meanwhile, earned his break slightly earlier at Cheltenham following stints at Dartford, Leatherhead, VCD Athletic, Corinthian and Greenwich.

The copy-cat tendencies have followed a more unfortunate path of late, but the other way around.

Abo's injury issues have been well documented – and it’s the sincere hope of everyone connected with the claret and amber that he is now finally over them after two severe hamstring injuries.

His number of first-team appearances is still in single figures after joining in the summer of 2021. He made just five appearances last term and three consecutive appearances ahead of Saturday's home game with Northampton Town equals his longest run at City.

Mo has also had injury problems of his own this year and recently returned to action, like Abo, after suffering an ankle injury in April.

The Bantams wingman said: "Me and my brother have a good relationship from both playing football. Even when we were in non-league.

"He’s always been a step ahead and I am always kind of chasing him. He is doing very well and I always feel like I need to be on that same level. He’s been like a role model for me and being so close helps.

"He has literally just come back at the same time. We have a funny thing of doing the same thing at the same time and I remember when we scored at the 13th minute when we were playing at the same time and have a weird little connection there.

"We speak every day and we are texting each other. When we go home, he is always there in the house and we have meals together."

The family of the footballing brothers have followed their careers every step of the way from the capital – their parents moved from Sudan to London with their young family in the noughties.

Alongside Abo and Mo, their younger sibling Omar is on the books of Aldershot Town. As for their 'baby' brother Khalid? At the moment, he's not interested.

Understandably, there is relief that both Abo and Mo are back out on the pitch, certainly from mum.

Eisa continued: "It has been tough. Obviously mums worry all the time and my dad is the more positive one. When your mum sees that you are sad, then it is obviously going to make you sad as well. We are a strong family and we look towards each other, which is important.

"My little brother is at Aldershot and he's doing alright to be fair. He's scoring goals for the under-21s. The youngest one just loves gaming and is not really a footballer. We have tried to force him into it, but he is not really!

"The family are in London and if they cannot come to the game, they always send me messages after games and we always speak."

Alongside family, his faith – Eisa is a devout Muslim – has helped him to cope during some understandably difficult times on the sidelines at City.

He said: "My religion comes first. That's a big support system for me. God knows how I feel when no-one else does. It's always important. I’m a religious man and always say that God gives tests to strong soldiers.

“I feel like he’s given me this one and I need to handle it in the best way possible. I always knew I would be back out there. Everything was just a delay, I thought I would be back.

“You’ve got to keep that positive mindset, otherwise it is difficult.”

Alongside being a talented footballer, City's winger is also a smart cookie.

During his early days in non-league, he combined part-time football with study at London's Brunel University, where he went onto complete a degree in biomedical science.

As for what he might choose to do after his playing days are over, it is coaching which is something he'd like to try his hand at.

His area of study has not yet provoked any natural inquisitiveness towards perhaps moving into sports science – and understandably, he does not want to see another treatment room any time soon.

He quipped: "I hope to be a big success in football, so I don't need to do anything!

"(But) I do think about life after football. I want to try coaching, stay in football and go down that path. With the degree, I don't know what I am going to do with it at the minute. I just want to stay away from injuries first."