Jack Payne’s 96th minute goal ensured Mark Hughes’ second game in charge of City also ended in defeat. After Hughes was able to spend a full week on the training ground with his new side, City’s performance was one of their best this season. However, after Alex Bass gave away a penalty in injury time, Payne was able to score the winner against his former side.
Despite a bright start from the Bantams, it was the visitors who had the first real chance on goal. City were dispossessed in midfield, leaving Matty Foulds out of position, and subsequently giving Harry McKirdy acres of space to exploit.
McKirdy drove forward, easing past Paudie O’Connor. Just as the angle for a shot was tightening, the Swindon winger was able to strike the ball past Alex Bass. It looked as if Swindon would take the lead, but Yann Songo’o heroically cleared the ball from the goal line.
This clearance proved crucial, as in City’s next attack, they took the lead.
Matty Foulds played a cross into the area from the left flank, which Caolan Lavery managed to control well under pressure. Gareth Evans took control of Lavery’s touch on his chest, before firing a sweet left-footed volley past a helpless Jojo Wollacott.
This goal was a nice moment for both Lavery and Evans, who had rarely featured for months having been frozen out by Derek Adams.
Although, City were not ahead for very long, as just three minutes later the visitors drew level.
After some neat link up play on the left, Wales international Jonny Williams was able to pick out an unmarked Harry McKirdy inside the area. This time McKirdy made no mistake in finding the back of the net, audaciously flicking the ball past Alex Bass into the far corner.
City regrouped following the half time interval, and started the second half excellently, hitting the bar twice in a matter of seconds.
First, Matty Foulds headed a Callum Cooke corner against the bar. The ball bounced back into the dangerous area, with Swindon only clearing as far as Cooke.
Cooke managed to play the ball back into the area, which Yann Songo’o connected with. This time, the ball strook the top of the bar, before going out for a goal kick.
Heading into the last 15 minutes, the home side were running out of steam, allowing the visitors to have more of the ball. Deep into injury time, Swindon nearly took advantage.
Harry McKirdy was once again causing City issues, this time playing a dangerous cross into City’s area. Josh Davison was on the end of the cross, heading the ball towards goal, but Alex Bass did well to tip Davison’s header behind for a corner.
City failed to properly clear the resulting corner, which allowed Jack Payne to have a strike at goal from distance.
Payne’s effort took a huge deflection, diverting the ball towards Ellis Iandolo. Bass ran out from his goal line, and committed to claim the ball at Iandolo’s feet, but instead, he brought the Swindon midfielder down.
Payne stepped up to take the penalty, and calmy slotted the ball straight down the middle, sealing the victory for the visitors.
The defeat was difficult to take for the Bantams, especially after playing so well for 75 minutes of the contest. A draw would have probably been a fair result, with both sides missing a number of chances.
However, the performance and intensity that Bradford showed has encouraged a lot of their fans. They feel that the future is bright, having seen a drastic change in performance in just over a week since Mark Hughes arrived at the club.
Up next for the Bantams is consecutive away games, first against league leaders Forest Green, before travelling to Hartlepool on March 15th.
