Bradford City boss Graham Alexander rues red card that hindered chances at Crewe Alexandra

Pattison was shown a straight red card two minutes after his low finish levelled the game for the Bantams, who fell behind to Omar Bogle’s far-post finish shortly after the interval.

Bradford enjoyed the better of the first half, but Pattison’s controversial dismissal – for kicking the ball at grounded goalscorer Bogle – handed the advantage to Crewe in a game which also saw referee Ben Toner hand out nine yellow cards and book Alexander as well as Crewe assistant manager Ryan Dicker.

“The red card put us on the back foot, but the will not to give in that was shown by the players was brilliant,” Alexander said.

“A point is the least we deserved in terms of how we played. Before (the sending off) we’d shown quality in ridiculous conditions and our movement and passing was excellent.

“Crewe are a good side but we got into some great areas with our wing-backs and we were on the front foot.

“It was a tough task to come here, but we put in a good performance. The red card was harsh – Alex says he didn’t mean to make the tackle or kick the ball to his (Bogle’s) head, but it opened an opportunity for the decision to be made.”

Crewe: Marschall, Connolly, Demetriou, Williams, Cooney, Sanders (Finney 70), Tabiner (Thibaut 89), Conway (Holicek 46), Lankester, Bogle (Powell 66), Tracey. Unused substitutes: Booth, Knight-Lebel, Lunt.

Bradford: Sam Walker, Baldwin (Halliday 80), Huntington, Shepherd, Benn, Pattison, Smallwood, Richards, Jamie Walker, Pointon, Kavanagh (Oliver 80). Unused substitutes: Doyle, Oduor, Kelly, Sanderson, Evans.

Referee: M Corlett (Liverpool).