Bradford City 1 Cheltenham Town 1: Red mist descends on Bantams again

Williams was given his marching orders early in the second half after he pulled down Justin Richards, but after the Robins' striker converted the resulting penalty 10-man City dug in to earn a share of the spoils.

Remarkably, it was the third successive game in which City have had a man sent off, but they almost grabbed a late winner when striker James Hanson lifted his shot over the bar in stoppage time.

After three home defeats in a row, manager Stuart McCall recalled Chris Brandon to his starting line-up and the midfield player impressed as the Bantams dominated the first half.

Although they were restricted to long-range strikes early on, they deservedly took the lead 10 minutes before the break.

Town goalkeeper Scott Brown failed to deal with Simon Ramsden's hanging cross and when the ball fell for midfielder James O'Brien he did well to drill a low shot through a crowd of players to claim his second goal of the season.

Williams had been booked in the first period for hauling down the powerful Richards and alarm bells were ringing when the Town striker turned the defender again nine minutes after the interval.

As soon as Richards was sent sprawling in the area, the home fans knew what was coming and after Williams saw red for a second bookable offence the striker picked himself up to fire the spot-kick past Jon McLaughlin.

The former Harrogate Town goalkeeper did well to get a hand to the shot, but there was just enough pace on the ball to carry it into the City net.

Soon after, City had their own shout for a penalty turned down when Michael Flynn appeared to be pushed over by Joss Labadie and on the hour mark Hanson fired wide after a great pass from Lee Bullock.

Despite the man advantage, Cheltenham failed to get on top and they came closest through striker Julian Alsop, who headed wide from eight yards.

A minute from time, Flynn fired a cross-shot just beyond the far post and Hanson almost bagged a desperately needed winner with his late chance.

Bradford City: Eastwood, Ramsden, Williams, Rehman, L O'Brien; J O'Brien (Horne 59), Bullock, Flynn, Brandon (Daley 81); Evans, Hanson. Unused substitutes: M Boulding, R Boulding, Sharry, Neilson, Convey.

Cheltenham Town: Brown, Bird, Townsend, Eastham, Pipe; Labadie, Gallinagh, Hutton (Hayles 79), Pook; Alsop, Richards. Unused substitutes: Diallo, Haynes, Durrant, Lewis, Lee, Richardson.

Referee: C Pawson (South Yorkshire).

Man of the match: Simon Ramsden.

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