Bradford City boss Mark Hughes takes the positives despite home defeat to Port Vale

The Bantams’ boss admitted his side were beaten by Port Vale’s ability to restrict them – the hosts’ only managing one shot on target despite boasting 57 per cent of the game’s possession. Hughes believes City’s last two successes – against Forest Green Rovers and Hartlepool United – gave Vale enough ammunition to prevent the Bantams from playing how they intended to.

But the return to the fold of goalscorer Charles Vernam and second-half substitute Jamie Walker in the 2-1 defeat offered Hughes plenty of encouragement.

Ben Garrity gave Vale the lead before former Manchester United striker James Wilson doubled their lead when he dispatched into the bottom corner. The Bantams pulled one back through Vernam on his return from injury but it was not enough to stop Vale from making it three wins on the spin.

“We have been playing well,” said Hughes. “And teams will look at how it is we play and have a plan to stop us. Teams will try and nullify the threat of how you want to play.

“We probably needed to turn them around and get them defending towards their goal.”

“We got to welcome back Charles and I thought he was excellent when he came on. The same goes for Jamie. He came on and affected the game by just showing a little bit more personality on the ball. We did not quite do that enough, so there are things to work on.”

Bradford City: Bass, Hendrie, Songo’o, O’Connor, Foulds, Evans, Cooke, Pereira, Delfouneso (Walker 69), Sutton (Vernam 69), Cook. Unused substitutes: O’Donnell, Kelleher, Robinson, Staunton, Lavery.

Port Vale: Stone, Smith, Walker, Hall, Worrall, Pett, Charsley (Edmondson 90), Benning, Garrity, Wilson (Harratt 76), Proctor (Amoo 85). Unused substitutes: Hurst, Robinson, Holy, Cooper.

Referee: Darren Drysdale (Lincolnshire).