Bradford City 2-1 Fleetwood Town: Billy Clarke penalty caps turnaround for Bantams

Bradford City moved into third place in League One after maintaining their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-earned 2-1 win over Fleetwood Town.
Billy Clarke scored a match-winning penalty for Bradford CityBilly Clarke scored a match-winning penalty for Bradford City
Billy Clarke scored a match-winning penalty for Bradford City

The win ended a run of five consecutive draws.

Substitute Billy Clarke scored the winner with a second-half penalty to complete Bradford’s comeback after the Bantams had fallen behind in the 34th minute.

The winning goal came in the 62nd minute when Timothee Dieng was pulled back by Amari’i Bell and Clarke scored from the spot.

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Former Bradford striker Devante Cole ought to have put the visitors ahead when he intercepted a loose pass from Josh Cullen, but was denied by Bradford keeper Colin Doyle.

However, Fleetwood made amends for that miss when Bobby Grant put them in front. David Ball laid the ball off for Grant, who cut in from the right before beating Doyle with an angled shot.

James Meredith’s cross was headed into the path of Haris Vuckic by Clarke, but Chris Neal stopped his shot on the line.

However, he could do nothing to prevent Bradford’s equaliser as Clarke set-up Filipe Morais. Bradford survived a late Fleetwood rally to make sure of victory.

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Bradford City: Doyle, Darby, Vincelot, Knight-Percival, Meredith, Morais (Law 63), Dieng, Cullen, Vuckic (Marshall 63), McNulty (B Clarke 42), Hiwula. Unused substitutes: Sattelmair (gk), N Clarke, Devine, Kilgallon.

Fleetwood Town: Neal, McLaughlin, Bell, Jonsson (Bolger 83), Eastham, Pond, Ryan, Ball, Grant, Woolford (Hunter 64), Cole (Jakubiak 64). Unused substitutes: Cairns (gk), Nirennold, Duckworth, Glendon.

Referee: G Salisbury (Lancashire).