Bantams boss Phil Parkinson admits he was struggling to work out how his City side had come away from their trip to AFC Wimbledon this Saturday empty-handed.
After seemingly looking on course for their second away win in a week thanks to Garry Thompson's opener, Parkinson's men were stunned by two late Wimbledon goals to give the hosts a barely-deserved victory.
On a difficult and bobbling surface, City controlled the flow of the game for long periods, especially in the second half, but they were left London with nothing thanks to a Jack Midson header that came off Ryan Dickson and an injury time Gary Alexander winner.
Alexander's dramatic ninety-fourth minute game-clincher for Wimbledon came about after the Dons had been awarded a hotly-disputed late corner.
With time almost up, Toby Ajala appeared to simply run the ball out of play, but a corner was still given to the home side and the winger's subsequent cross from the set-piece was headed home at the near post by Alexander.
Parkinson said: "We've dominated the game - we should have won it.
"We've completely controlled the second half. Some of our play on a difficult surface was excellent.
"We've gone one goal up and had chances to grab a second. Tommo (Garry Thompson) in particular has had one before it has taken a nasty bobble up in front of him.
"The pitch was really hard to play on - very bobbling - but I thought some of our play at times was excellent and if we could have gone on to get a second goal, it could have been a comfortable ending to the game for us.
"At one-nil though, Wimbledon threw caution to the wind a bit, as you would expect from the home side, and they'll be delighted with the result.
"In terms of the overall balance of play, I thought there was only going to be one team going on to win the game.
"You really couldn't see them scoring. It is a real blow for us today.
"For their first goal, it's come from a quick throw-in and we haven't really reacted and got ourselves in position properly.
"The second one has come from a corner when everyone in the ground could see it was a goal-kick. All of the players pretty much began walking up to the halfway line anticipating a goal-kick.
"He's (the referee) given a corner though, and we still have to defend it properly. We can't blame the referee for that.
"All in all though, I couldn't really ask for much more from the lads today.
"Some people might look at this result and think that we've had one eye on the cup final, but I didn't think we were. I thought we were tremendous.
"Everyone played their part today - I thought we were excellent in all departments - it was almost like I had to pinch myself to believe that I was in the dressing room talking about a defeat in the end.
"I still can't quite believe we have lost the game. These things in football do happen though. We have a big week ahead of ourselves now and we have to prepare properly for what will be a great, great day for everyone connected with the club next Sunday (Capital One Cup Final)."
City were cheered on by over 600 supporters at Wimbledon's Cherry Red Records Stadium for their final league game before next weekend's trip to Wembley Stadium. Those fans filling the away end will have seen the sight of Andrew Davies seemingly in some discomfort towards the end of the match.
It did appear at one stage like the giant defender would have to be replaced but Parkinson believes the problem was nothing major.
"Dava's (Andrew Davies) is fine," declared Parkinson.
"He just had a bit of a spasm in his calf. It would have taken a worse injury than that to bring him off."