Morecambe 0 Bradford City 0
City could only leave Morecambe with a point to their name despite dominating the game in large parts.
James Hanson spurned the chance of the game when he could only direct his free header straight at Barry Roche but it was a good performance from Phil Parkinson's men and a platform to kick on into the hectic January fixture list.
Ritchie Jones was handed a rare start and he almost give The Bantams the lead early on; Kevin Ellison gave possession away cheaply and James Meredith crossed for James Hanson to knock down into the path of Jones whose volley was held well by Barry Roche.
Morecambe claimed for a penalty when a red shirt went down in the area but referee R Lewis waved the claims away and Ritchie Jones lead a counter attack for the visitors, he covered plenty of ground before pulling the ball back for his namesake Gary to shoot first time but his attempt was blocked away.
City were pushing for an early goal and Gary Jones' set pieces were proving a handful for the hosts. His delivery from a freekick on this occasion was headed narrowly wide via a deflection by James Hanson.
Zavon Hines cut inside from the left hand side to produce a shot which was blocked into the path of Will Atkinson who fired a low shot a couple of yards wide of the target.
A decent opening was wasted by Morecambe veteran Stewart Drummond when Lewis Alessandra's delivery was headed into the air, the ball fell to the Morecambe midfielder but he volleyed the ball well over the bar from inside the area.
James Hanson was on the end of yet another Gary Jones set piece as he forced a neat low save from Roche when he latched onto his corner in the area.
Into the second half and the wave of Jones' set pieces continued and his delivery was met by the head of Rory McArdle; the ball headed towards the bottom corner in front of the massive away following from West Yorkshire but Roche pulled off the save of the game with a full stretch stop.
McArdle tried again to test Roche from a Gary Jones delivery but this time he couldn't keep his header on target as he was picked out once again, this time from a freekick.
Morecambe's two top goalscorers linked up to create a chance; Kevin Ellison played the ball to Jack Redshaw who got half a yard on Stephen Darby in the area before hitting a shot wide of the target.
Stephen Darby who had been getting forward well all afternoon to accommodate City's altered formation almost became an unlikely source of the game's opening goal. Ritchie Jones low cross was almost scrambled in at the far post by the right back but as other Black & Gold shirts tried to react to the loose ball the flag went up for offside.
Substitute Nahki Wells was having an immediate impact on the game and he tried his luck with a speculative long range strike that Roche took no chances with and alertly pushed away to safety.
Kyel Reid who was causing problems himself upon his introduction, produced an excellent delivery from a wide freekick, James Hanson was left unmarked in the area but he could only direct his free header in the direction of Roche who made a routine save when he should almost certainly have been picking the ball out of the back of his net.
The Bantams could only manage a point after failing to beat Roche but now look ahead to a trip south as they take on Edgar Davids' Barnet at Underhill this coming Saturday.