Bradford City 1 Leyton Orient 1: Wells comes to City’s rescue against Orient

It was the Bantams’ fifth draw in an unbeaten run of six League matches.

The match had just moved into the five minutes allowed for stoppages, when Wells was fouled just outside the box by Mathieu Baudry – an offence that earned a booking for the Orient defender – and up stepped the Bantams striker to curl the free-kick in the top corner to give Bradford a deserved draw.

Parkinson, who praised his side on their never-say-die spirit, described Wells’s goal as ‘a moment of class’ and added: “We get a lot of free-kicks in these situations as we put a lot of pressure on the back four and make defenders commit themselves and we got our reward with Nahki’s goal.

“It was a great free-kick, top class, but he practices these free-kicks – they don’t come overnight.”

After City had enjoyed the best chances of the first half – a 20-yard shot from Kyel Reid well saved by Jamie Jones was their best effort – Orient stunned them by taking the lead just before half-time with a superb shot into the far top corner from Lloyd James.

Parkinson admitted his players were ‘a bit flat’ at half time after coming in 1-0 down, adding, “We knew it would be very difficult in the second half because Orient are a solid, physically strong team, but you have got to give the lads credit for keeping going and going and I thought we deserved one point if not all three.”

Bradford City: McLaughlin, Darby, McArdle, Bates (Connell 78), Meredith, Thompson (Yeates 64), Jones, Doyle (De Vita 78mins), Reid, Hanson, Wells. Unused substitutes: Ripley, Kennedy, McHugh, McBurnie.

Leyton Orient: Jones, Omozusi, Baudry, James, Cuthbert, Odubajo, Clarke, Vincelot, Cox, Batt (Bentley 83), Simpson (Lisbie 73). Unused substitutes: Larkins, Sawyer, Lasimant, Gorman, Wright.

Referee: C Boyeson (E Yorkshire).

Man of the match: Kyel Reid.