Bradford City 3 Cheltenham Town 1
City came back from a goal down against fellow high fliers Cheltenham Town to impressively seal three points thanks to a brace from Nahki Wells and a tidy finish late on from James Meredith.
There wasn't a great deal to shout about in the early stages with both sides beginning rather tentatively. A tame Chris Zebroski strike and a freekick from debutant Craig Forsyth was about the nearest anybody got to goal in the first 20 minutes or so.
James Hanson forced Scott Brown into a fabulous save when he headed Wells'
cross towards goal; Thompson then delivered a cross to give Hanson a second bite at the cherry but his glancing header at the back post failed to force Brown in a reaction.
A minute later, the visitors were awarded a penalty. Jermaine McGlashan got the better of Andrew Davies to get into the area and he was shoved to the ground. Robins' skipper Marlon Pack stepped up to calmly send Jon McLaughlin the wrong way and give his side the lead.
Forsyth's corner was headed down by Davies and the on-rushing Rory McArdle was inches away from equalising at the back post. A couple of minutes later Nahki Wells curled a freekick narrowly over the bar after Billy Jones had bundled Garry Thompson over.
On the stroke of half time, Mark Yates' men had a serious claim for another penalty. McGlashan this time got the better of Meredith and Luke Oliver came over to intervene but he sent the winger tumbling. The ref waved it away, and in first half stoppage time The Bantams were awarded a penalty themselves when Sido Jombati handled in the area. Wells stepped up to beat Brown with a fierce strike from 12 yards.
Not long into the second half City had a great chance to go in front when Nathan Doyle robbed Steve Elliott of possession to get behind Cheltenham's defensive line. Doyle wasn't quick enough to race clear and Elliott recovered brilliantly to put in a last ditch tackle.
Chris Zebroski found a dangerous amount of space in City's area to cut the ball back to Kaid Mohamed but his shot was tame and comfortably held by McLaughlin.
Mohamed had another chance a few minutes later. Jones' corner was headed back towards him by Elliott; Jones delivered a cross and Mohamed engineered a looping header that sailed narrowly over.
On the 68th minute City took the lead; Atkinson's cross was headed back across the area by Hines, and Wells was left unmarked to tap in at the back post and score his second goal of the game.
Substitute Zavon Hines found a cross a couple of minutes later which was volleyed cleanly towards goal by James Hanson, Brown beat the ball away and Wells' cross-shot was missed narrowly at the back post by Hanson.
With seven minutes remaining, City scored a third to wrap up the three points.
After some neat passing play the ball was played back to Oliver who chipped the ball forwards towards Hanson who nodded the ball down to Atkinson; he swept the ball wide to Meredith who powered into the area before slamming a fierce shot into the top corner.
Cheltenham couldn't mount any sort of fight-back and The Bantams held on to record an impressive fifth home win of the season to move into fifth position in the league 2 table.