Bradford City 1 AFC Wimbledon 2: Anniversary celebrations fall flat yet again as drop zone looms

A glance back eight years to the club’s Centenary vividly illustrates that, with any hopes of a party having to be abandoned due to City’s fight for survival amid eye-watering debts.

So underwhelming, in fact, were the ‘celebrations’ that an official history book commissioned by the Bantams to mark the occasion did not appear on the shelves until the club was 103 years old.

Less calamitous but upsetting nevertheless for supporters was City’s 75th year in existence, when their side marked another notable anniversary by being relegated to the Fourth Division.

With such a rotten past record, supporters heading to Valley Parade ahead of its 125th anniversary as a sports ground over the weekend could have been forgiven for fearing the worst.

Such a sense of foreboding proved well founded, too, with Football League new boys AFC Wimbledon claiming a comfortable victory on their first visit to Yorkshire’s second oldest ground still to be hosting professional football.

Worst of all, a third league defeat on home soil means City are now only sitting outside the relegation zone on goal difference at the 10-game mark of the season.

Valley Parade’s big day had all started so well with Michael Flynn opening the scoring to suggest the anniversary may have a rare happy ending after all.

Unfortunately, goals from Jack Midson and Christian Jolley meant the atmosphere was more funereal by the final whistle.

New signing Andrew Davies, preferred to captain Guy Branston as Phil Parkinson looked to improve a defence that has now not kept a clean sheet in 18 league outings, admits the table does not make for happy reading.

But the on-loan Stoke City defender Davies added: “There are still 36 games to go and things can change quickly. It hasn’t entered my head where we are and I am sure that is the same for the rest of the lads.

“We have some good players. Obviously, we need to work on a few things but I saw enough to suggest we can get out of trouble.

“The lads are hurting in the dressing room and that is a great sign. It shows they care.”

Parkinson also believes there is sufficient quality in his squad for the Bantams to get out of trouble.

The City manager was, however, unhappy with his side’s display. He said: “After Bristol Rovers (when City drew 2-2 in Parkinson’s first home game), the fans clapped us off the pitch because they saw we had put in a real performance.

“I can’t honestly saw we did that against Wimbledon.

“There was almost an acceptance we were going to lose the game once behind. I have played in a struggling team myself and we have to pull together to get out of this.

“The second goal from Wimbledon was a soft one and we didn’t do enough to get back into the game.”

There was precious little sign of a party atmosphere on another trying afternoon for Bradford with the 515 Dons fans providing most of the noise.

The visitors from London were, however, almost silenced inside two minutes when James Hanson charged down an attempted clearance by Seb Brown and the ball bounced goalwards only to hit the post.

It was a lucky let-off for the visitors, though not a warning they initially seemed keen to heed as was proved in the 26th minute when more slack play during an attempt to clear the danger led to City going ahead.

Gareth Gwillim was this time the culpable Dons player, the left-back taking too long to control a bouncing ball – allowing Jamie Devitt to nip in and touch the ball to the side before being clattered to the ground.

East Yorkshire referee Mark Brown had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and stand-in captain Flynn duly dispatched his third penalty of the season into the net.

So far, so good for Bradford. Flynn’s strike was, however, as good as it got for the long-suffering home fans with it taking the Dons just five minutes to pull level.

The equaliser was a simple affair but beautifully executed, Christian Jolley heading Callum McNaughton’s cross into the path of Jack Midson, who thrashed the ball past Matt Duke from eight yards.

Midson’s strike changed the game with City, who until then had shaded proceedings, falling away and Wimbledon stepping up a gear.

Once the second half was under way, Luke Moore went close with a header before the Dons notched what turned out to be the winning goal on 57 minutes.

Again, Jolley was a central figure with the midfielder collecting possession before looking up and curling an exquisite shot over Duke and into the net.

It was a fine finish, though not for the first time during the afternoon City had played their part in allowing the visitors an opening by being incredibly slow in closing down the ball.

After that, Parkinson’s side huffed and puffed but never really looked like getting back on level terms.

Luke Oliver did head straight at Brown and Ritchie Jones had a fierce shot that flashed over the crossbar but, in truth, it was Wimbledon who looked the far more likely to add to their two goals.

The final whistle was predictably met with a chorus of boos, the sense of dejection only being deepened when news came through of bottom club Plymouth Argyle having claimed their first win of the season.

With Hereford also having drawn at Cheltenham, it means only goal difference is keeping City out of the relegation zone.

A truly miserable and depressing way to mark what should have been a celebration of Valley Parade’s rich history.

Bradford City: Duke; Moore, Oliver, Davies, Threlfall; Mitchell (Fagan 59), Flynn, Jones, Reid; Devitt (Hannah 82), Hanson. Unused substitutes: Tongue, O’Brien, Branston.

AFC Wimbledon: Brown; Hatton, McNaughton, Stuart, Gwilliam; S Moore; Jolley, L Moore (Kiernan 82), Yusuff, Minshull; Midson. Unused substitutes: Turner, Porter, Johnson, Mulley.

Referee: M Brown (East Yorks).