Bradford City 1 Burton Albion 1: Precious point secured as City edge nearer to safety

Last night’s battling draw against fellow strugglers Burton Albion means the Bantams sit seven points clear of trouble at the foot of League Two with just four games remaining.

It may not have been the win interim manager Peter Jackson had demanded ahead of kick-off to take his side to 50 points. But it is almost a case of ‘job done’ in terms of Bradford staying up, especially as their current tally of 48 points has been enough to keep all but two clubs in the basement division since the advent of two clubs being demoted in 2002.

And both those unwitting victims – Oxford United (49 points) in 2006 and Exeter City (48) three years earlier – came in seasons where the teams at the bottom hit a rich vein of form in the final month, something that seems beyond this year’s strugglers.

Being able to kick off 2011-12 in the fourth tier of English football is, of course, a small crumb of comfort for a club who, just a decade ago, were rubbing shoulders with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premier League.

Nevertheless, there was a palpable sense of relief around Valley Parade at the final whistle that comfortably Bradford’s worst season in a generation can almost be consigned to a fitting resting place – the rubbish bin.

Certainly, few in the bumper 14,814 crowd will look back with any fondness at a year where their side have regularly found goals almost as hard to come by as points.

No wonder that the Bantams’ board have cancelled the Player of the Year awards due to there being nothing to celebrate.

Considering what was potentially at stake for the two sides, the first half, perhaps unsurprisingly, was an untidy affair – save for a couple of impressive passages of play.

The first came on 26 minutes when a superbly-flighted free-kick by Gareth Evans allowed Steve Williams to flick a header goalwards that Burton’s Adam Legzdins turned away with a stunning one-handed save.

David Syers reacted quickest to the rebound, only for the midfielder’s cross to just evade the on-rushing James Hanson inside the six-yard area.

The first half’s other quality move came just before the break after City had failed to clear a corner, allowing the visitors to work the ball to the right flank where Jimmy Phillips sent over the kind of cross every player worth his salt relishes.

Sure enough, Burton were able to profit from such a precise delivery as John McGrath ghosted in at the far post to power a header past Lenny Pidgeley.

City may have felt hard done by to find themselves behind, bearing in mind how unfortunate Williams had been not to score earlier.

Gareth Evans had also gone close with a drilled shot from the edge of the area just before McGrath’s opener.

But, in truth, the Brewers could also point to a decent number of chances that they created in those opening 45 minutes with only a last-gasp block by Luke Oliver keeping out a rasping Phillips drive and Calvin Zola guilty of a ‘fresh air shot’ when in sight of goal.

City started the second half strongly with the busy Syers heading wide.

Substitute Jake Speight then went close with a low drive before the moment the fans who had been tempted down to Valley Parade by a cut-price £1 ticket offer had waited for arrived on 74 minutes.

A throw-in by Syers, who if the Player of the Year award had gone ahead would surely have been a shoo-in to win, caused panic in the Burton defence, allowing Hanson to cushion a header for Speight to sweep into the net.

Interim manager Jackson was so relieved he ran on to the field to celebrate as Speight, who had only scored one previous goal since a £25,000 summer move from Mansfield Town, was mobbed by delighted team-mates.

This being City, there were still a few worrying moments with Pidgeley being called upon to turn a Phillips effort against the crossbar and Pearson curling a shot wide before the final whistle blew to signal City had claimed a precious point.

Bradford City: Pidgeley; Hunt, Williams, Oliver, Threlfall ;Evans, Worthington, Syers, Daley (O’Brien 88); Flynn (Speight 56), Hanson. Unused substitutes: McLaughlin, Dobie, Dean, Bullock, Chilaka.

Burton Albion: Legzdins; Corbett, James, Moore, Webster; Maghoma (Malone 75), Penn, McGrath, Phillips; Zola (Bolder 63), Pearson. Unused substitutes: Poole, Walker, Young, Dyer, Parkes.

Referee: N Swarbrick (Lancashire).