Wanderers’ winning home run ended at eight games but a record post-Premier League attendance was treated to a ding-dong clash which saw top spot in League One prove just out of reach, writes Pete Oliver.
Both sides could have climbed into pole position and Wanderers will feel they did enough in a dominant first half to leapfrog Bradford and two others to reach the summit. But with some early chances not taken by the Whites, City clung on and had a go themselves to try and grab all three points in a pulsating second-half.
Wanderers had to dig deep at times but again showed that side of their game is also in good order as they made it three clean sheets in a row in the league at the Toughsheet Community Stadium which once again proved impossible to breach.
With plenty up for grabs and a crowd of26,473 generating a cracking atmosphere, Wanderers showed three changes from the starting line-up last time out when a 4-0 win at Port Vale before the international had made it eight in a row.
A goal from the bench for Kyle Dempsey in that game had earned the attacking midfielder a first league start of the campaign and he was involved in the first chance of the game three minutes in.
His pass into the box found its way to Jordi Osei-Tutu and the winger was denied a goal on his own return to the side by the legs of Sam Walker, who made a smart stop.
It was competitive, high-tempo stuff worthy of a Roses’ battle and as Wanderers tried to force the issue another break from Dempsey and nice link-up play between the immaculate Josh Sheehan and Amario Cozier-Duberry ended with Cozier-Duberry clipping an effort onto the roof of the net.
The in-form wingman – with four goals in as many games – then had a better sight of the target with just over half an hour gone but shot wide and as the Whites cranked up the pressure he looks odds-on to break the deadlock.
A fine run from Cyrus Christie had the visitors – in town for only the third time this century – on the back foot and when Mason Burstow released Cozier-Duberry, his attempted finish was too close to Walker to break the deadlock.
It was all Wanderers going into the break as they tried to turn their intensity into goals and respond to the urgings of the record-breaking crowd as Cozier-Duberry saw another effort blocked and dynamic Dempsey blasted wide, City mustering their first effort on target in stoppage-time as Teddy Sharman Lewis had to tip a deflected effort over the top following the visitors’ first corner.
With Bradford on the ropes, boss Graham Alexander made a double change at the start of the second half with ex-Whites’ skipper Antoni Sarcevic and former Wigan frontman Stephen Humphrys added to the mix.
Humphrys was immediately involved with a fierce drive that forced Sharman-Lewis into a diving stop before Wanderers settled back into the rhythm with Dempsey nodding down for Mason Burstow who couldn’t convert a half-chance as he lashed the ball wide before hitting a free-kick into the wall from an inviting spot.
It was a far more even contest and with the outcome in the balance and 20 minutes to go, Schumacher made a triple change as Burstow, Dempsey and Aaron Morley – another who put in an impressive shift – made way.
With both sides going for a winner it was end-to-end stuff and Wanderers had another sight of goal when Cozier-Duberry slipped in substitute Sam Dalby for an angled effort he put straight at Walker.
The biggest save came from Sharman-Lowe, though, with an excellent stop at his near post to keep out City substitute George Lapsie’s goalbound effort to at least extend Wanderers’ season-long unbeaten home record and with another point added to the total in the longer-term aim to reach the top two.
Wanderers: Sharman-Lowe; Christie, Toal, Johnston, Conway; Sheehan, Morley (Simons 71); Cozier-Duberry, Dempsey (Forss 71), Osei-Tutu (Cissoko 74); Burstow (Dalby 71). Substitutes: Miller, Forino, Randall.
Booked: Sheehan, Johnston
Bradford City: Walker; Pennington (Baldwin 48), J Wright, Touray; Neufville (Lapslie 82), Power, T Wright; Metcalfe (Sarcevic HT), Pattison, Pointon; Swan (Humphrys, HT). Substitutes: Hilton, Byrne, Cook.
Booked: Touray, Pennington
Referee: Darren Drysdale
Attendance: 26,473 (5,077 away)