Bradford City v Barrow: Bantams urged to rediscover magic touch in front of goal

All seemed well during the opening four matches of their League Two campaign as the Bantams netted nine times on their way to racking up an extremely healthy 10 points.

They are however now without a win in four matches in all competitions and have drawn a blank in three of those games.

Last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Salford saw them create plenty of chances without managing to capitalise on any of them, and Adams insists that with performance levels generally high, it is just the killer touch that is currently lacking.

“The only thing that hasn’t been going for us is scoring goals,” the Scot said, speaking ahead of this afternoon’s home showdown with Barrow.

“As a football manager, you look at formation and tactics and set up your team in a way that’s going to create more chances than the opposition. We’ve done that in every game this season except one in the league and that shows you the attacking force that we are. Unfortunately, we’ve just not been able to find the back of the net.

“We’ve got to score goals. We are creating more than enough chances to win the game, but good goalkeeping, blocked shots and poor finishing hasn’t enabled us to.

“It was a game that we dominated against Salford, a game where we created more chances than them. We didn’t take them, but it’s a game that we feel we should have won.

“It’s a long season. I think that we’ve got enough opportunities on goal, we are creating enough chances and eventually the ball will go in the back of the net.”

With goals in short supply, Adams could turn to summer arrivals Caolan Lavery or Theo Robinson this weekend, with both men still waiting to make their first Bantams start.

“They are pushing to be in that starting XI,” the City chief added. “They haven’t played a full 90 minutes yet, but they’re ready to go. It’s when I decide.”