Bradford City 0 Macclesfield 1: Taylor upbeat despite defeat

Just how City managed to lose this match despite having 80 per cent of the play and a string of chances is difficult to understand, but Taylor welcomes the early chance for them to bounce back when they meet Accrington Stanley tomorrow.

"It is good that we have a match on Tuesday against Accrington," he said. "The players will look forward to it. I just hope we have a bit more luck in front of goal.

"This defeat should not affect their confidence. I don't expect them to be over moon because we have lost 1-0, but I do expect them to be pleased with the way we played. I think in the second half we were terrific and with a bit of luck we would have scored but we didn't. The performance was encouraging."

Ultimately, though, City couldn't match the clinical finish that enabled Macclesfield to win the match and extended their unbeaten run to six matches. Midfielder Ross Draper seized on a faulty clearance from City's Rob Kiernan and drilled in a 25-yard shot.

Macclesfield defended deeper after that and their defence managed to cope with everything the Bantams could throw at them.

Two of City's best chances fell to energetic midfielder David Syers who shot wide in first-half stoppage time and then scooped the ball over the crossbar in the 58th minute, when striker James Hanson headed the ball down to him.

Syers also twice went close to scoring as City laid siege to the visitors' goal in the closing stages, but was denied by Portuguese born goalkeeper Jose Veiga ten minutes from the end and just failed to get on the end of a header from substitute Jason Price with the goal at his mercy six minutes later.

Bradford City: Pidgeley, Eckersley, Kiernan, Oliver, O'Brien, Syers, Bullock (Osborne 76), Adeyemi (Price 59), Hendrie, Hanson, Daley. Unused substitutes: McLaughlin, Rehman, Evans, Moult, Threlfall.

Macclesfield Town: Veiga, Nsiala, Morgan, Brown, Reid, Chalmers, Bolland, Draper, Daniel, Sinclair (Mukendi 78), Barnett. Unused substitutes: Cudworth, Tremarco, Wedgbury, Lowe, Hamshaw, Roberts.

Referee: S Attwell.

Man of the match: Richard Eckersley.

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