Bradford City 1 Forest Green Rovers: Bantams held by league leaders

Top scorer Andy Cook put the Bantams in front in the 10th minute, outjumping the visitors’ defence to head home from Elliot Watt’s corner.

Forest Green enjoyed plenty of possession but could not find a way through Bradford’s tight defence and Cook almost scored a second goal after 40 minutes when Rovers failed to clear another corner from Watt and the striker’s header was blocked on the line by goalkeeper Luke McGee.

Cook ought to have scored in additional time at the end of the first half. Levi Sutton was brought down on the edge of the box by Baily Cargill after a surging 30-yard run – a foul that earned the visiting player a booking.

Watt’s free-kick was blocked by the defensive wall and the ball broke to the unmarked Cook who fired wide.

Forest Green came back strongly after the interval and equalised in the 55th minute with a goal hotly-disputed by Bradford’s players.

Substitute Jake Young burst through the home defence to level the scores, but Bradford claimed Alex Gilliead had been fouled in the build-up and goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell was booked for protesting.

Both sides went to close to scoring a winner during some ill-tempered exchanges – six players were booked in the match – with Cook seeing a header rebound off the crossbar.