Wycombe Wanderers 0 Bradford City 3
City produced a brilliant away performance to head back north with a crushing defeat of the league's 'in-form' team in Wycombe Wanderers.
In control for the majority of the game, The Bantams went ahead inside 50 seconds through Nathan Doyle; and a late strike from Will Atkinson combined with a confident spot-kick by Doyle secured a much needed victory.
Much to the delight of the near 450 away following, City took the lead inside the first minute of play; Ryan Dickson's long throw was flicked on into the path of Nathan Doyle who converted neatly past Jordan Archer with a half volley from 15 yards out.
Wycombe almost equalised soon after when Joel Grant did brilliantly to get to the byline and produce a hanging cross which was headed marginally over the bar by Josh Scowen.
Andrew Davies was making his first start in almost 4 months following his return from injury, but he nearly had a nightmare start when he headed Scowen's corner towards his own goal but the ball was in the reach of Matt Duke and he dealt with it comfortably.
Dean Morgan had Duke struggling minutes later when he dipped a superb freekick inches wide of the target from around 20 yards.
Kyel Reid tried his luck from 40 yards with a speculative half volley; most would've doubted his decision to try his luck from such distance but the ball dropped a mere yard over the bar.
The game was still very much in balance in terms of general play and following some neat passing in midfield by Wycombe, Josh Scowen was allowed the opportunity to get a shot away and his dipping half volley dropped wide of the target.
Scowen seemed to be at the centre of any attacking play that belonged to the hosts and on this occasion it was his corner kick that was met powerfully by the head of Dave Winfield, but fortunately for Parkinson's men the ball went comfortably over the bar and failed to test Matt Duke.
An impressive solo run from Will Atkinson resulted in a decent chance for the visitors. He cut inside and evaded a couple of challenges before launching a shot towards goal that swerved a yard or so wide of the target.
All guns certainly weren't blazing on behalf of either side early on in the second half until Dean Morgan tried his luck, subsequently leading to a number of chances for either side. Morgan ran with pace at Stephen Darby before drilling a shot wide of the target.
City's next chance fell to Garry Thompson, who had lead the line well all evening, and he was to be denied by the crossbar. The ball fell kindly to him on the edge of the area and he caught the ball sweetly but the ball came back off the underside of the bar and was cleared to safety.
Charles Dunne tried his luck from long range for the hosts after coming out on top in a challenge with Will Atkinson, he roamed forward from midfield before launching a rising shot over the bar from 25 yards.
Wycombe were trying their luck from all distances in an attempt to force their way back into the game and the next to try his luck with a speculative effort was Sam Wood. After retaining possession well, Wood found space to shoot and his dangerous 25 yard drive fizzed on narrowly wide past the post.
With just less than 10 minutes of the 90 remaining, The Bantams doubled their advantage. Kyel Reid clipped the ball into James Hanson and his brilliant deft lay off fell nicely for the onrushing Will Atkinson to confidently plant the ball beyond Jordan Archer and into the bottom corner.
Two minutes later City scored a third goal to put the result beyond all doubt. A long ball over the top had Hanson chasing and he beat Archer to the loose ball and was brought down inside the area. Nathan Doyle grabbed the ball immediately to take responsibility of the penalty kick and he showed the same confidence to send Archer the wrong way to seal all three points for his side.
Wycombe tried desperately to pull a consolation goal back and Dean Morgan's deflected strike in the last minute looked to be heading into the bottom corner but Matt Duke produced an outstanding save to keep his clean sheet in tact.
Phil Parkinson's men had produced a fine example of how to play away from home with a confident and organised display helping them on their way to three points and start the pre-Wembley away double header as well as they could've hoped.