City boss Parkinson in plea to card-sharp officials

BRADFORD CITY manager Phil Parkinson has called for more consistency from referees as top scorer Nahki Wells prepares to sit out tomorrow’s trip to Burton Albion through suspension.

The 10-goal Bermudan international picked up his fifth booking of the season in Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory at Northampton Town.

Wells was shown a yellow card by referee Graham Scott for running to the City fans after scoring the goal that ultimately clinched all three points.

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Parkinson said: “He was booked for going to the crowd, which I know is something he probably shouldn’t do. But scoring is an emotional thing and I thought the referee could have shown a bit more understanding.

“From our point of view, it was a silly booking but what I found difficult to understand is several players did the same thing at various games on Tuesday night but received no punishment.

“I watched the goals round-up on Wednesday and there were loads who did what Nakhi did. But whereas they were just told by the referee to stop, Nahki was booked. All we ask for is consistency.”

Wells picked up his first booking of the season in the Capital One Cup first-round win at Notts County on August 11.

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A fifth on Tuesday night means he must sit out tomorrow’s trip to Burton Albion as Bradford look to maintain the pressure on the leading pack.

Back-to-back wins in the past week mean Bradford travel to the Pirelli Stadium sitting fifth in the table, just one point adrift of Fleetwood Town in the final automatic promotion place.

Gary Jones is again likely to travel as the midfielder continues his recovery from an injury that has ruled him out since last month’s defeat at home to Port Vale.

The 35-year-old travelled to Northampton but was not in the match-day squad, Parkinson instead preferring to give him a workout on the pitch ahead of kick-off with a view to handing the midfielder a possible recall tomorrow.

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Meanwhile, City have sold their entire allocation of tickets for next Tuesday’s Capital One Cup fourth-round tie at Wigan Athletic.

The Bantams were handed 5,000 tickets and they were quickly snapped up as supporters clamoured to watch their team’s first appearance at this stage of the competition in almost a quarter of a century.

As a result, Wigan have announced only supporters with a history of attending games will be able to buy tickets for home areas. The Premier League club have also confirmed there will be no cash admission on the night.