Bradford City 1 Aldershot Town 1
The Bantams were held to a frustrating draw at home to strugglers Aldershot Town despite bossing much of the general play throughout the game.
Kieron Cadogan's freekick on the stroke of half time gave the visitors the lead but a last gasp penalty kick converted by Alan Connell kept City's post Wembley unbeaten run in tact going into the Devon double header with Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City.
City started the game brightly and very much on the front foot with Zavon Hines in particular looking a threat going forward early on. Gary Jones received a Stephen Darby throw in before neatly finding the feet of Hines inside the area, he proceeded to turn away from his marker before firing a low shot towards goal that forced an alert save from Jamie Young in The Shots' goal.
Zavon Hines was at it again and after running at Aaron Morris with intent he made the angle to fire a superb shot towards the bottom corner, the ball looked to be heading into the back of the net but Jamie Young was equal to it producing an athletic save at full stretch to keep the scores level.
The game looked one sided in the early stages as The Bantams searched for that opening goal. Nahki Wells got in on the act before long and after linking up well with Zavon Hines he found space to produce a shot which eventually deflected narrowly wide of the target.
Michael Nelson came close to opening the scoring shortly after; Will Atkinson beat Kieron Cadogan with a neat turn of skill before produce a teasing cross which was met by the head of Nelson but he couldn't keep his effort down and the ball went behind for a goal kick.
Jamie Young was called into action once more shortly before the half time interval; the ball was worked to Gary Jones and his powerful shot from 20 yards was alertly fisted over the bar by the former Wycombe stopper.
Into the one minute of injury time at the end of the first half it was Aldershot that took the lead, very much against the run of play. The visitors were awarded a freekick following a cheap foul by Nathan Doyle and Kieron Cadogan's in-swinging delivery evaded everybody in the area and Jon McLaughlin couldn't react quick enough to prevent the ball from nestling into the far corner.
It was the visitors that began the second half on the front foot after some nervy moments defensively from The Bantams. Paul McCallum capitalised on Rory McArdle's slip to deliver a dangerous cross that narrowly evaded two onrushing black shirts at the far post.
Aldershot worked the ball wide following Michael Nelson's error and he proceeded to deliver a cross towards Paul McCallum at the far post, but the ball narrowly escaped the run of the West Ham loanee and The Bantams cleared the ball to safety.
It was Rory McArdle and Michael Nelson that combined to almost give City the lead on 72 minutes; Gary Jones' delivery was headed back across goal by Nelson and McArdle's headed effort on goal was thwarted by a goal line block.
The Shots' goalscorer Kieron Cadogan was proving a threat going forward for the visitors and after he escaped the attentions of Carl McHugh he produced a teasing cross-shot that was read by Craig Reid but he couldn't manage to keep his glancing header on target from close range.
Aldershot keeper Jamie Young was replaced by Glenn Morris after a forceful collision had left him unable to carry on. Morris was quickly called into action shortly after his introduction to tip James Hanson's header over the bar following Kyel Reid's corner.
Kyel Reid's next corner produced another half decent chance for City; his delivery was met by the head of Gary Jones whose effort looked to be dropping in under the crossbar but Morris was alert enough to tip the ball over the bar.
Substitute Alan Connell had the crowd on their feet temporarily in the early stages of the 8 additional minutes at the end of the 90; after standing up Aaron Morris and finding half a yard on him, he fired a powerful shot into the side netting.
Aldershot looked set to be heading back to Hampshire with all three points after braving most of the additional eight minutes but after Zavon Hines had beaten Terrell Forbes to a Gary Jones pass inside the area he was tripped and a late, late penalty was awarded. Ever reliable from the spot it was Alan Connell who made no mistake in beating Glenn Morris to rescue a share of the spoils for The Bantams.