City boss Phil Parkinson says he couldn't have asked for much more from his players at Burton Albion this Saturday despite the Bantams falling to a frustrating defeat at the Pirelli Stadium.
Following Ricky Ravenhill's controversial sending off just past the half hour mark and the loss of Andrew Davies and Luke Oliver to injury, Parkinson's ten men kept their hosts at arms length for nearly 50 minutes until Calvin Zola's late winner.
Parkinson felt the goal was harsh on his side after they had looked on course at one stage for a hard-fought point despite the triple blow of losing Ravenhill, Davies and Oliver.
"The way the lads have performed today, I felt we deserved a point," said Parkinson.
"I thought we were terrific when we went down to ten men. The effort and commitment from the lads was superb.
"The lads were out on their feet after the game because of the effort they had put in. The amount of energy they put into the game probably warranted us getting something from the game.
"Despite all the blows we've taken in this game, the lads didn't dip, they rolled their sleeves up and gave us everything.
"Hans (James Hanson) has led the line well in the second half - the lads did pretty much everything we asked of them at half time."
After his side had put so much in to defending City's goal despite their numerical disadvantage, Parkinson admits that the nature of the match-winning goal itself that the Bantams conceded made events all the more frustrating.
Having looked capable of coping with pretty much everything Burton could throw at them, City were broken down when Garry Thompson and Jon McLaughlin failed to deal with a Nathan Stanton clipped pass forward.
The small error between the pair allowed Damien McCrory to nip in and cross for Zola to head home the goal that ultimately decided the contest.
Parkinson said: "What hurt the most is that we've conceded a soft goal."
"If Burton have opened us up with a well-crafted move or scored with a superb strike, you have to hold your hands up, but we're disappointed with the manner of the goal.
"Up until then I was feeling confident on the touchline.
"I didn't think Burton had much to hurt us and the crowd was starting to get frustrated.
"Everything they did have, we coped with.
"It just clearly wasn't to be, however."