League One & League Two round-up: Bradford City prevail in Yorkshire Derby as Burton Albion grab stunning win

The play-off race in League One took another huge swerve on Tuesday night as Bradford City and Stockport County were involved in huge results against Rotherham United and Burton Albion, respectively.

The Bantams snatched a narrow victory at Valley Parade against struggling Rotherham, whereas Stockport were stunned by Gary Bowyer’s men, who scored three without reply.

Elsewhere, Port Vale edged their basement battle with Northampton Town to keep their narrow survival hopes alive.

In League Two, Barnet won their first game in four by defeating Accrington away from home and Salford City slipped to a fifth defeat in a row with a 2-1 defeat at home to Shrewsbury Town.

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Burton Albion 3-0 Stockport County

With plenty at stake at both ends of the league table, both sides wanted a positive start, and it was Albion who had the better of the first-half chances.

Jake Beesley robbed Ethan Pye but saw his shot saved by Ben Hinchliffe. Odin Bailey forced a good save from Albion keeper Brad Collins, but it was Hinchliffe who was by far the busier of the keepers.

The Stockport stopper was called upon twice in as many minutes to deny Shade and Beesley, who both had good headed chances to break the deadlock.

Albion made a rapid start to the second half and were ahead less than ninety seconds after the restart. Skipper Udoka Godwin-Malife burst into the box and his cutback was swept home by Shade.

Stockport made a triple change but almost instantly found themselves two behind, Evans glancing home Alex Hartridge’s cross as the visitors’ evening began to unravel.

Hinchliffe had a moment to forget trying to shepherd the ball out, only to be robbed by Shade, who was able to fire into an empty net and secure a vital three points with half an hour left.

John Brayford was pleased with Burton’s win
(Nick Potts/PA)

Bradford City 1-0 Rotherham United

The Millers gave goalkeeper Ted Cann his league debut, but he was beaten after 10 minutes as they were caught out by Max Power’s quick free-kick.

Tyreik Wright was left in plenty of room to provide a cross from the left wing that was firmly headed home by Matthew Pennington.

Kayden Jackson was denied a second by a block from Jamal Baptiste before the Bradford striker went off injured.

Pennington deflected a Harry Gray effort past a post and Dru Yearwood’s long-range shot took a touch over the bar.

Bradford went close just after the hour as Ethan Wheatley held the ball up for Jenson Metcalfe to unleash a first-time curling shot that flew past a post.

Metcalfe threatened again with a free-kick that clipped the top of the bar.

Salford City 1-2 Shrewsbury Town

Will Boyle’s strike condemned Salford to a fifth straight defeat in all competitions, though they started brightly as Ossama Ashley and Jorge Grant both went close.

The home side took a fortuitous lead in the second minute of first-half stoppage time when Matthew Cox pushed a mis-hit Ryan Graydon volley against Luca Hoole and the ball rebounded into the net for an own goal.

Shrewsbury levelled six minutes after the break when Tom Sang picked out the bottom corner from the edge of the box after Josh Ruffels’ initial shot had been cleared off the line.

Josh Austerfield rattled the Shrews’ bar with a powerful header before team-mate Ben Woodburn had a volley cleared off the line.

But Karl Robinson’s side would be made to rue those missed chances after 76 minutes when Boyle fired into the bottom corner to seal victory.

Full round-up

Bradford City 1-0 Rotherham United

Burton Albion 3-0 Stockport County

Northampton Town 0-1 Port Vale

Accrington Stanley 0-1 Barnet

Salford City 1-2 Shrewsbury Town

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