Bantams boss Phil Parkinson was left frustrated that a tight and keenly-contested affair at Peterborough United didn’t go his side’s way this Saturday.
After a tight opening period, a bundled effort from a Jon Taylor free-kick, later confirmed as a Stephen Darby own goal, gave managerless Peterborough the lead just after the break.
With City trying to force the issue as time ticked by, Peterborough then secured the points via a ninetieth minute Michael Bostwick spot-kick after Billy Knott had harshly been penalised for handball inside the box.
Parkinson said: “I felt we were right in the game in the first half – our approach was good in very difficult, windy conditions.
“In the first period and the start of the second period, there was nothing in it, and then we’ve had a free-kick against us which we felt was very dubious.
“From the set-play, we’ve conceded a very scrappy goal. That has given Peterborough a lift but we were still very much in it – we perhaps just lacked that bit of quality in the final third.
“I can’t fault the lads for their drive, effort and determination, however. It was just a very scrappy sort of game.
“Unfortunately you do need the ability to grind out results when the conditions and the state of the game make it like this.
“One sloppy goal from a set-piece has proved costly.
“It was a nothing goal really. The ball has been hit to our back stick, hit Stephen and then just trickled in.
“They hadn’t threatened us much up until that point but the goal gave them something to hang onto.”
After back-to-back away matches at Swindon Town and Peterborough this week, Parkinson’s men can now look forward to home matches against Crawley Town in the league and Reading in the F.A Cup over the next seven days.
Parkinson added: “We are frustrated with the week we’ve had after the two defeats here and Swindon but we have to move on.
“We have to pick ourselves up and go again.
“We’ve had some real highs over the last few weeks and this is a bit of a low at the moment but, as always, we’ll dust ourselves down and we’ll come out on Tuesday ready to give a good account of ourselves.
“We’ll be trying everything we can to get those three points.”