The Insider: Bradford visit Portsmouth managerless and in grave danger

A Bradford purple patch saw four wins in five matches heading into January, while David Hopkin was shortlisted for manager of the month.

The team were scoring goals for fun and suggesting they could get out of relegation trouble.

They have subsequently won once in eight matches since New Year’s Day and even then that arrived in the 95th minute against Shrewsbury.

It turned out that brief uplifting period was the middle of the tunnel – the season was miserable before and has been miserable since.

With a hard March fixture list coming up, Hopkin had targeted an improved run of results in February. It ended up being two defeats and two goalless draws.

Bradford’s boss was at the end of his tether following last weekend’s defeat at Walsall.

They faced a side down to 10-men for 84 minutes – and lost 3-2. That was pretty much the final straw and he resigned.

Victory over their relegation rivals would have taken them out of the bottom four, instead they are deeply stuck in it.

To be fair to Hopkin, by resigning he hasn’t cost the club anything and he has made it clear that he has given whoever comes in a fighting chance with 12 matches remaining.

It’s a desperate situation, but not insurmountable. The Bantams are three points off safety but not hugely adrift. However, five of their next seven games are against teams in the top seven.

Hopkin has now gone, with Martin Drury stepping up from his coaching staff to serve as caretaker.

Of the players, Jack Payne has unfortunately gone quiet since January, when Bradford fought tooth and nail to keep him on loan from Huddersfield.

Although he has now gone off the boil, the midfielder remains joint-top scorer with nine goals in all competitions, while he also creates them.

In fact, Bradford’s best players are their loanees, with David Ball, on loan from Rotherham, another good attacking player who can operate in a variety of positions.

Pompey fans may remember Eoin Doyle, who joined in the summer from Preston for an undisclosed fee and presently has nine goals.

He started very slowly and probably being asked to serve as a target man didn’t suit him, it was not his game.

Yet he has now registered six times since mid-December and is looking sharper. Having said that, despite being a trier, it has not really worked out for him, he's a bit disappointing, especially as one of the higher earners.