It was an afternoon when the past intermingled with the future.

The poignancy of the occasion as Valley Parade mourned a quarter of a century since the fire was marked by a City display which sent out the right message for times ahead.

Peter Taylor could sense the special atmosphere of the occasion. And it gave him a glimpse of what it might be like if he can reverse the club's decade of decline.

Taylor says it was the potential of the place which attracted him to the job in the first place. The chance to rouse the sleeping giant was a powerful allure.

On Saturday, amid the solemn remembrance of the disaster victims and then the jubilation of a convincing win, Taylor sensed it again.

"It brings a community even closer when a disaster happens like it did 25 years ago," he said. "That's the feeling I've had at the football club ever since I've been here.

"There's a lovely feeling around the place. The supporters are desperate for their team to get back to where they should be.

"That's the type of support we would get every week if we were to start being a good team in this division and being up there. I thought there was a magnificent feeling, and any player in the changing room could see that."

Taylor's first day in the job "for real" saw a thoroughly-deserved third home win on the bounce.

It wasn't easy, particularly in a first half where Northampton played with the poise and purpose of a side chasing a play-off finish, but City worked their socks off to get the rewards.

Even down to ten men after Dean Beckwith's straight red for a professional foul on Leon Osborne, the Cobblers still asked a few awkward questions.

But City's prowess on the counter-attack eventually wore down the visitors, who are effectively now resigned to facing the Bantams again next season.

The team Northampton will encounter on their next visit north is anyone's guess. Only Taylor and the board know who he wants to keep from the current crop of out-of-contract players and who will be thrown on that ever-growing scrapheap.

The manager is not saying yet but revealed that his mind has been made up. The consistency of recent results will certainly have helped confirm those decisions.

One thing you can guarantee is that Taylor's Bantams will not lack for pace going forward.

Raw speed is as effective as any weapon at this level and Northampton struggled to cope with the three musketeers on Saturday.

Osborne and Gavin Grant were again the quick-on-the-draw deputies supporting sharp-shooter Gareth Evans - who, on current form, must wish the season could be extended for another couple of months.

It is a staggering statistic but before Chesterfield, Evans had scored only once in his previous 24 starts.

His superb double on Saturday made it three goals in two games and took him up to 11 in total.

Evans is now just two behind James Hanson - maybe the big man's prize as the club's top scorer in last week's awards ceremony was a bit premature.

Evans laughed: "I like to think I can still take it off him! But James has had a fantastic season and, coming from non-league, deserves everything that's come his way.

"It was painful on Tuesday to see the leading goalscorer title given away and maybe that had something to do with my two goals."

His first goal was City's only shot on target in the first half.

Jon McLaughlin had already been called upon twice before the 12th-minute opener and pulled off a sharp save to deny Northampton skipper Ryan Gilligan after a rare mix-up between Michael Flynn and Lee Bullock.

City's response came out of nothing. Adam Bolder nodded the ball on to Evans 30 yards from goal and he took it on the chest, swivelled and unleashed a ferocious half-volley that screamed into the roof of the net.

It was as good a City goal as any this season and even topped his piledriver at Rochdale in Taylor's first win.

Northampton continued to trouble, with Adebayo Akinfenwa, despite his generous Sunday League proportions, always a handful for Matt Clarke with his bulk and sheer body strength.

There were times when the two could have been a side-show at Wrestlemania as they grappled and grabbed. The beautiful game it most definitely wasn't.

Akinfenwa's partnership with the nippy Billy McKay kept City on their toes, though most of the home side's problems were of their own making as they tried to overplay in the wrong areas.

Beckwith was rightly dismissed for tugging back Osborne as he looked to break and John Johnson should have followed for a forearm smash on Evans.

But Northampton remained dangerous from long throw-ins and McKay clipped the post to warn City against switching off, thinking the job was done.

City needed a second goal - and could have had it on numerous occasions in a second half where they crackled and fizzed as they poured forward.

With the Cobblers switching to three at the back, City eagerly exploited the gaps that appeared and Osborne was twice prevented his first senior goal by good saves from Jason Steele.

The keeper acrobatically turned away a Grant effort that was bound for the top corner before Evans made sure nine minutes from time with another classy strike.

Grant led the break again, Bolder crossed to the far post and Evans connected with a sweet chest-high volley.

From that point it was all City and Taylor justifiably felt they could and should have scored more from a grandstand finish.

But it had been a satisfying day's work for the man at the helm. And a prequel, maybe, of many more to follow.

BRADFORD CITY	NORTHAMPTON TOWN
13 Jon McLaughlin	26 Jason Steele
4 Michael Flynn	2 Paul Rodgers
5 Zesh Rehman	3 John Johnson
6 Matthew Clarke	6 Dean Beckwith
8 Lee Bullock	8 Abdul Osman
9 Gareth Evans	10 Adebayo Akinfenwa
12 Steve Williams	11 Andrew Holt
20 Leon Osborne	12 Ryan Gilligan
28 Robbie Threlfall	14 Liam Davis
31 Gavin Grant	17 Billy McKay
33 Adam Bolder	23 Peter Gilbert
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
40 Matt Glennon	1 Chris Dunn
2 Simon Ramsden for 5 (57)	5 Craig Hinton
3 Luke O'Brien	9 Steve Guinan for 10 (73)
15 Ryan Kendall	15 Alex Dyer
16 Jonathan Bateson	19 John Curtis
19 James O'Brien	22 Courtney Herbert for 17 (74)
26 Scott Neilson	30 Kevin Thornton for 23 (74)

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee:	P Crossley
Assistant Referee:	M Heywood
Assistant Referee:	N Murphy
Fourth Official:	S Smith

GOALSCORERS:
BRADFORD CITY	NORTHAMPTON TOWN
Evans (12, 81)

DISCIPLINARY:
BRADFORD CITY	NORTHAMPTON TOWN
	Beckwith (37)
	Johnson (45)