There's a lame gag currently doing the rounds that Manchester celebrated their new year well after everyone else because they were waiting on Sir Alex Ferguson's stop watch.

Stuart McCall must wonder if City are stuck in the same delayed time zone. McCall could not wait to slam the door on 2009 but 2010 has dawned in dispiritingly familiar fashion.

Saturday mirrored countless frustrating Valley Parade afternoons from the previous 12 months.

Just like the Fergie joke, there is little funny about City's home form. By the time Notts County make yet another trip north in a fortnight, it will be nearly three months since City last triumphed on their own turf against Hereford.

The point off Cheltenham was only the third in the last six home games, so the pressure cranks up on City to do the business on the road if the season is not going to fritter away - and with five of their next six matches away, that will be a tall order.

This game was like so many others. Frustrated fans trailed away knowing their side should have won comfortably - and would surely have done so had they managed to keep 11 men on the field.

But that is proving a challenge at the moment. For the third game running, City spent the bulk of the second half with a numerical inferiority.

Steve Williams could have no complaints. Unlike the farcical Matt Clarke dismissal, both his bookings were justified.

Cautioned towards the end of the first half for hauling down Justin Richards, Williams had no chance of escape when he later tugged the same player on the edge of the box.

Whether the incident was actually in the area was questionable but there was no doubt about the foul which gave the Cheltenham striker a golden opportunity to level matters from the spot.

It was, effectively, their only proper shot on target - and even then Jon McLaughlin got a firm left hand to the ball before it deflected into the net.

McLaughlin had so little to do that even McCall cracked that he could have gone in goal himself.

But the stand-in stopper looked a confident figure with his calling to defenders and general control from crosses. He did not look like being beaten - and wouldn't have been but for City's art of shooting themselves in the foot.

If cutting out the errors was a resolution for the new year, it lasted about as long as my vow to give up Guinness and chocolate.

James O'Brien, whose goal had seemingly set the foundations for a comfy victory, was the culprit. Under pressure from two Cheltenham players ten yards inside his own half, he hung on to the ball too long, rather than releasing it to namesake Luke in space to his left.

David Hutton picked his pocket to release Richards goal-side of Williams and the fate of the afternoon had changed in an instant.

Beleaguered McCall admitted: "It's a new year and you hope to have a bit of new fortune with a victory to get everyone going. That's what the club need.

"It was a good opportunity for us but it wasn't to be because of the sending off and the uphill battle that gave us.

"That was a game we needed to win and we haven't given ourselves a chance again. It's just not going for us at the minute.

"You could understand the anxiety after losing the previous three at home. Our first-half performance wasn't great but it was good enough to get us ahead.

"For a team that had won well at Dagenham, I thought we contained them well. I felt it would be a tight game won by the odd goal and never felt in much danger. But then you see Willo get sent off and the penalty going in and it's a tough pill to swallow."

McCall had lined up his side in a diamond formation to match the visitors. It made for a narrow foot slog, with few balls getting wide to stretch the play.

One precise pass might beat the initial line of defence but another then another was needed before reaching the penalty area.

But City still looked the dominant side, with the recalled Chris Brandon enjoying his free role at the diamond's tip behind the front two.

The midfielder, who is desperate for a lengthy run in the side, did his chances no harm as he buzzed about trying to make something of note happen.

Brandon tested Scott Brown with a fierce drive that the goalkeeper palmed away and he won the free-kick from Joss Labadie which led to City's 35th-minute opener.

Although James O'Brien slammed it straight into the wall, Luke O'Brien shovelled the loose ball out to Simon Ramsden to chip into the danger zone. The cross should have been Brown's but the keeper flapped feebly and the ball fell for O'Brien to rap into the bottom corner.

Cheltenham had shown little in response but, significantly, one move of note ended with Williams getting a yellow card from referee Carl Pawson for man-handling Richards.

How costly that proved eight minutes into the second half when he was shown it for the second time. He became the sixth City player to face an early bath this season - the club can expect a costly visit to the Football Association in the summer.

But even down to ten men, City remained the most likely scorers of a decisive third goal, demonstrating the paucity of the opposition.

Teenager Louis Horne came on for his debut in a back three as Luke O'Brien was pushed forward to midfield.

Michael Flynn, almost operating as a striker by this point, flashed a shot across the goal-mouth but the best chances fell to James Hanson. Both came from inviting through-passes from Lee Bullock onto his favourite left foot.

On the hour, Hanson's drive beat the far post with only Brown to beat. And then deep into stoppage time, he got too much on it as he stretched to make contact and sent the ball into the Kop.

There were a few boos at the final whistle; not many but enough to register the growing frustration as City continue to lose ground.

The approaching glut of away games will be critical in shaping which route this season takes. Either the road to recovery or that well-trudged one to nowhere.

BRADFORD CITY	CHELTENHAM TOWN
13 Jon McLaughlin	1 Scott P Brown
2 Simon Ramsden	2 David Bird
3 Luke O'Brien	5 Michael Townsend
4 Michael Flynn	7 Michael Pook
5 Zesh Rehman	8 Andy Gallinagh
8 Lee Bullock	9 Justin Richards
9 Gareth Evans	10 David Hutton
11 Chris Brandon	16 Ashley Eastham
12 Steve Williams	19 David Pipe
17 James Hanson	34 Joss Labadie
19 James O'Brien	39 Julian Alsop
Substitutes:	Substitutes:
7 Omar Daley for 11 (82)	6 Drissa Diallo
14 Michael Boulding	12 Kyle Haynes
18 Rory Boulding	18 Jack Durrant
21 Luke Sharry	22 Theo Lewis
24 Louis Horne for 19 (59)	30 Jake Lee
26 Scott Neilson	38 Barry Hayles for 10 (80)
30 Matthew Convey	40 Barry Richardson

MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee	C L Pawson
Assistant Referee	D J H England
Assistant Referee	N Greenhalgh
Fourth Official	R P Newman

GOALSCORERS:
BRADFORD CITY	CHELTENHAM TOWN
J O'Brien (35)	Richards (54 pen)

DISCIPLINARY:
BRADFORD CITY	CHELTENHAM TOWN
Williams	Labadie
Williams
Ramsden