Leyton Orient

vs

Bradford City

Preview

Leyton Orient (home)

• Leyton Orient are a mid-to-lower mid-table side sitting between 15th and 20th with 25 points at the time of writing and in need of points to avoid sliding down the table.
• Dom Ballard is a more typical English centre forward - big, strong and capable of banging in goals from open play or penalties.
• He is Orient’s top scorer in League One this season, but the manner in which he came off against Salford City suggests he may be playing through some injury.
• Leyton Orient are a possession-based team who build up patiently from the back and like to control the tempo of the game in the middle third.

Bradford City (away)

• Bradford City sit second in the 2025-26 League One table with 37 points from 19 games as of mid-December 2025, well inside the automatic promotion places.
• Back-to-back league wins, several clean sheets in December and a 2-0 win at Reading followed by a 1-0 win away at Plymouth in midweek suggest Bradford are hitting their stride.
• Bobby Pointon is a very different player with a pacey style more suited to the high-intensity, high-tempo game that Graham Alexander’s teams play.
• The Bantams manager is another of League One’s promotion-winning coaches and he has installed a solid, compact system that has served his side well.

Head-to-Head

• Bradford City have won five of the 14 competitive matches played between the teams (Leyton Orient won the other five with four draws).
• The recent head-to-head record between these clubs is balanced with Bradford winning five of the 14 meetings.

Key Players

• Dom Ballard - big, strong centre forward and Orient’s top scorer this season.
• Bobby Pointon - pacey Bradford forward with six-plus goals and a threat on the break.
• Aaron Connolly - Orient’s main weapon in attack whose goals and assists have come at crucial times in the last few weeks.

Betting Insights

• Bradford are the slight favourites at 2.71 and the draw is priced at 3.28.
• Under 2.5 goals at 1.89 looks a good price for what appears to be a cagey match on paper.

Prediction

• The way these teams are set up to play should ensure a tactical chess match, but Bradford’s momentum and recent cohesion as a squad suggests they should edge it.
• We will take the visitors to just edge a victory with a 0-1 or 1-2 scoreline.