Bantams boss Phil Parkinson declared himself pleased with the attitude and effort shown from his lads on their return to league action this Saturday at Fleetwood Town - and he felt City could have taken all three points from the game.
After two successive league postponements, Parkinson's men secured a deserved point from their first League 2 outing in three weeks with a 2-2 draw at Highbury Stadium thanks to a superb free-kick from Nahki Wells and a first goal for the club from Ryan Dickson.
City were denied all three points from their first game since securing their spot in the Capital One Cup Final, however, when Fleetwood were awarded a debatable penalty for a handball against James Hanson fifteen minutes from the end.
While the ball did seem to strike Hanson's outstretched arm, there seem little intent involved as the ball appeared to be simply blasted against the striker - leaving Parkinson both encouraged and frustrated in equal measure post-match.
The Bantams boss said: "I thought in the back end of the first half and the beginning of the second half we played a bit more on the front-foot."
"They are a good team Fleetwood, but we had the 2-1 lead (in the second half) and I really fancied us to go on and get another one. I felt if another goal was going to come at the beginning of the second half, it was going to be from us.
"But unfortunately a contentious refereeing decision has cost us the three points, which is a real shame.
"It's one of those calls which is just really harsh.
"We've had Nahki absolutely flattened in the box at one end and we've not received a penalty, you then go up the other end later in the half and the ball is stuck against our lad from no more than two yards away and we've got a penalty given against us. I just think it is a really harsh decision.
"It's tough on us but we have to more on and take the point from this game.
"The focus was on us slightly with this being our first game since getting to the Capital One Cup Final.
"You could probably guess that there would be a few people looking at this game today and wondering whether we would fancy it, but I thought we really did.
"It wasn't a lack of effort that cost us today, it was a poor decision by the referee."