Bradford City 0 Preston North End 0: Bantams stalemate as Bennett sees red

The result extended Bradford’s run of home matches without a win to nine to nine – they have not won at Valley Parade since the end of September.

The dismissals came after 25 minutes when Bradford winger Kyle Bennett, a loan signing from Doncaster, and the visitors’ midfield player Neil Kilkenny were sent off after a clash. Kilkenny reacted to a foul by Bennett, who retaliated and both were shown red by referee Stuart Attwell.

Preston missed a great chance two minutes after the double sending off when Joe Garner missed Scott Laird’s left-wing cross and Paul Gallagher chested the ball against the post.

Bradford’s best effort of the first half came in the last minute when home debutant Aaron Mclean saw his goalbound shot punched away by Declan Rudd after the visitors’ defence failed to deal with debutant winger Adam Reach’s left-wing cross.

Captain Gary Jones and Reach, a loan signing from Middlesbrough, impressed for City as both sides went close to scoring in an action-packed second half.

Rudd did well to block a shot from Mclean while Josh Brownhill hit the post for Preston, who had the ball in the net in the 83rd minute only for Garner to be ruled offside while Garner missed a great chance 13 minutes from the end, when he shot wide.

Bradford City: McLaughlin, Darby, Davies, McArdle, Bates, Bennett, Jones, Doyle (Ravenhill 80mins), Reach, Mclean (McBurnie 72mins), Hanson. Unused substitutes: Jameson, Gray, Thompson, McHugh, Atkinson.

Preston North End: Rudd, Wiseman (Humphrey 72mins), Clarke, Wright, Laird, Brownhill (Keane 90mins), Kilkenny, Welsh, King, Garner, Gallagher. Unused substitutes: Stuckmann, Beavon, Holmes, Buchanan, Hume.

Referee: S Attwell (Nuneaton).