In his own words: Phil Parkinson post-Bradford City

Read the manager's post-match thoughts following Saturday's draw with the Bantams

Wanderers came from two goals down to secure a share of the spoils against Bradford City on Saturday afternoon in their latest Sky Bet League One outing.

Despite falling behind to two Charlie Wyke efforts, the Whites rallied with David Wheater halving the deficit before Gary Madine nodded home an equaliser 15 minutes from time.

And speaking after the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered the following points...



On the determination shown by his team to secure a share of the spoils...

We're really pleased with the point after being two goals down. Having been the manager here, I warned the lads about the kind of intensity to expect and we didn't deal with that well at the start of the game.

They were sharper than us, they moved the ball quicker and we didn't play with the quality I know we're capable of.

In the second period however, we responded really well and did fantastically to come from two goals down.

Valley Parade is never an easy place to come, but at two nil down we were looking for a response and I'm delighted with the way the lads played in the second half.

It isn't often that we've been two down this season, but I thought the supporters responded really well to the situation too.

They didn't get on the players' backs at all and they stayed right behind the team so that we deservedly got back in it and possibly could have won it at the end.

We won't be greedy though, especially after going two behind - it is ultimately a very good point for us and there was some great character shown by us to get there.

On tough games against fellow promotion hopefuls...

It's always a challenge to play in the frenetic pace of these games at 100 miles an hour, especially when there is so much riding on them.

It is important to play with calmness too though and we showed that today, particularly in the second half.

We knew that we'd get opportunities this afternoon as Bradford are a very open side, and we eventually did.

Of course, there was always the fear today that the place would be incredibly up for the fight given the links of myself and the backroom staff, and so it proved.

I can't credit the lads enough though - from David Wheater to Josh Vela to Gary Madine, there was some huge performances throughout the spine of the team which proved influential.

On the performance of David Wheater in particular...

David was an absolute colossus today - he was just immense and a real man mountain in that second half.

You need your big players to perform in big games like this and he has certainly done that today.

On Gary Madine getting on the scoresheet once again...

It was great to see Gaz score again, but it was a great cross from James Henry too. 

James and Viv coming off the bench gave us a big boost - they provided a bit of freshness and quality.

Gary though, in the centre of the goal, put it away well and could have even had a few more this afternoon.

All in all though, I was really pleased with his performance.

And finally, on the superb backing provided by the travelling fans...

They were absolutely fantastic today and I can't thank them enough for that.

They knew that it was going to be a difficult day for myself and all the staff coming back here and that the crowd would be against us, but they were great.

Even at two nil down though, they stayed right behind the lads and that was fantastic to hear.

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