Bradford City 5 AFC Wimbledon 1: Davies is back on a mission to lift the Bantams

Many an eyebrow was raised when this former Middlesbrough product agreed to sign a one-year contract for his quality surely merits a higher stage than League Two.

From the Boro, Davies went on to Southampton and then to Stoke before being loaned to several clubs with Bradford becoming his last port of call last season.

Perhaps a poor disciplinary record made other clubs shy away from offering him a deal yet Bantams fans will not be complaining.

The former England Under-21 defender was sent off three times in his 26 appearances for City last season – a campaign which began with such high hopes but ended in a fight against relegation.

Manager Phil Parkinson has now built a squad which already looks capable of figuring at the top and 27-year-old Davies agrees.

After scoring from a long-range free-kick against a shambolic Wimbledon side still reeling from a 6-2 defeat at Barnet in midweek, Davies explained his decision to sign on.

“I have come back here because I think we can push for promotion,” he said.

“It is important I get my career going again.

“If I come back and we don’t do very well, then that’s my career on a downward spiral really so it was so important that the manager got some players in to help us push on and he has done.

“Of course we mean business and I really think we can challenge for promotion.

“The manager has got us working really hard for each other and has built a very good team, to be honest. I think if we out-work teams, our quality will come through.”

Davies scored City’s third from a free-kick in the 32nd minute after Jim Fenlon had been booked for a late challenge on Kyel Reid near halfway, goalkeeper Seb Brown colliding with Pim Balkestein as he came out to intercept and watching the ball fall into the net.

Davies explained: “We had been practising it and I have to try and land it on the six-yard box so the keeper doesn’t know whether to come or stick really and I got it spot on.

“The keeper came out and didn’t really know what to do with it and it ended up in the back of the net which was great so I’m definitely claiming that one. I thought when I hit it ‘that’s perfect, that’s where he wants me to put it’. It was around 45 yards out and I didn’t think I’d ever score one of them to be honest.”

Brown had been taken by surprise in the third minute when opposite number Matt Duke’s long punt eluded the defence and Nahki Wells nipped in to prevent the goalkeeper clearing before tucking it in from a tight angle.

It soon became 2-0 when Reid’s low cross was turned into his own net by Yeovil loanee debutant Curtis Haynes-Brown, whose day went from bad to worse when Zavon Hines crashed into him after the interval, forcing the defender to be taken away on a stretcher with his neck in a brace.

Wimbledon manager Terry Brown reported: “He went to hospital for a precautionary scan. He was unconscious so we didn’t want to take any risks but he is in safe hands.”

Brown’s side had already gone into the break 5-1 behind – City having been driven on by the dominant central midfield display of captain Gary Jones – and he was relieved to keep it at that.

Ironically, that is how the scoreline stayed the last time City had scored five in an opening half at Valley Parade, against Oldham in the FA Cup in January, 1987.

The pitch that day had been frost-bitten, but on Saturday it was saturated, with plastic sheeting having had to be laid in front of the main stand near the Kop before kick-off to protect it from a cloudburst.

Hines was still able to skate past opponents at will and he is another City player who looks out of place at this level, along with second-half substitute Alan Connell, who was Swindon’s top scorer last season but who will have to be patient while the little and large combination of Wells and James Hanson continues to prosper up front.

It was Hanson who headed down for right-back Rory McArdle to sweep home his first goal for the club in the 37th minute. That made it 4-1, Byron Harrison having headed home straight after Davies’s goal.

Victory was wrapped up on the stroke of half-time as Wells crossed for his partner to rise and head home back across goal.

There was not the same intensity from City after the break, Davies commenting: “It’s hard when you are 5-1 up to go out in the second half and keep performing and keep your concentration at the back but I’m happy with that.”

Promotion is Parkinson’s priority and he may rest some players for tomorrow’s trip to Watford in the second round of the Capital One Cup but Davies said: “We have to get that winning mentality into the team and if we can beat a Championship team, which I believe we can, then it will give us more confidence for Saturday’s trip to Rotherham.

“I don’t think there are any favourites in this league. The ones who are going to be the most disciplined and who work hard for each other will be the ones who will be up there.”

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Bradford City: Duke, McArdle, Oliver, Davies, Meredith; Hines (Atkinson 73), Doyle (Thompson 723), Jones, Reid; Hanson, Wells (Connell 79). Unused substitutes: McLaughlin, Darby, Hannah, McHugh.

AFC Wimbledon: Brown, Fenlon (MacDonald 73), Balkestein, Mitchel-King, Haynes-Brown (Cummings 68); Moore, Harris, Long, Jolley (Merrifield 87); Harrison, Midson. Unused substitutes: Jaimez-Ruiz, Kiernan, Strutton, Sweeney.

Referee: P Miller (Beds).