Bradford City 1 Harrogate Town 3: Sulphurites come from behind to down Bantams

Having drawn with Rochdale then lost to Exeter City after getting themselves into identical positions in their two previous outings, Simon Weaver's men made no mistake at Valley Parade on Tuesday evening.

Trailing to Matty Foulds' early opener, Warren Burrell levelled matters deep in first-half stoppage-time before second-half strikes from Lewis Page and Jack Diamond wrapped up a fourth win in as many matches against the Bantams.

It was the visitors who settled the quicker, stringing together a few decent passages of play as the travelling support sung songs about watching “football in a library.”

However the Bradford faithful came to life on 12 minutes, when, out of nothing, the hosts broke the deadlock.

Luke Hendrie’s long throw-in from the right was headed out of the Harrogate box, but dropped for Matty Foulds to unleash a first-time daisy-cutter which beat the dive of Mark Oxley.

With the volume suddenly cranked up, City pressed forwards in search of a second, and Oxley had to make himself big and block with his chest as Alex Gilliead cut in off the left and took aim.

Burrell then had to throw himself into a block as Andy Cook threatened on the edge of the Town penalty area, before Oxley produced another important save, pushing away Levi Sutton’s instinctive volley.

Town created their first clear chance of the evening on 35 minutes when George Thomson swung over an inviting cross from the left that Ryan Fallowfield just needed to apply a finishing touch to at the far post, but failed to connect with.

Elliot Watt then sent a dipping volley wide of the mark at the other end before Harrogate levelled matters in the fifth minute of time added on.

Page delivered a right-wing corner to the near post, where Burrell made first contact, nodding the ball across Alex Bass and into the far corner.

The visitors should have taken the lead just a minute after the resumption, Luke Armstrong getting in behind down the left and doing really well to keep the ball in play before pulling back for Jack Muldoon, who sliced wide when he really ought to have found the back of the net.

With both sides looking dangerous when they went forwards, Cook was next to go close, landing a header on the roof of the away net with Oxley scrambling.

It was however the Sulphurites who would strike the next blow, Page curling a gorgeous 23-yard free-kick over the Bradford wall and beyond the despairing dive of Bass with his left foot.

City looked certain to level matters on 70 minutes when a cross from the right found Gilliead unmarked six yards out, but Oxley seemed to hand in the air as he somehow clawed the Bradford winger’s header away.

The visiting goalkeeper was at it again six minutes later, getting down well to palm the ball to safety after Gilliead cut in off the left and bent a low effort towards the bottom corner.

Mark Trueman's Bantams continued to try and apply pressure as the minutes ticked by, but they were put out of their misery in the final seconds of normal time when substitute Brahima Diarra played Diamond in behind the home back-line.

Having managed to dig the ball out from under his feet, the on-loan Sunderland winger raced clear of the chasing defenders and calmly rolled a finish past Bass to send the Harrogate fans into raptures.

Tuesday's result sees Harrogate leapfrog Bradford in the League Two standings and into 13th position. City now find themselves 15th.