Crawley 1 Bradford City 0: Parkinson pleased City have Preston to visit

But despite the latest setback, manager Phil Parkinson is looking forward to his side’s next League One encounter at Deepdale.

“It is a great game for us at a terrific stadium and we will relish it,” he said.

“We wanted to go there with something under our belts, but it wasn’t to be.”

Emile Sinclair scored the only goal of the game on Saturday seven minutes into the second half of an open, entertaining contest in Sussex.

While Crawley could have had more – Jon McLaughlin saved well from Jamie Proctor and Sinclair while Andy Drury’s effort struck the top of the bar – the Bantams had their fair share of opportunities.

Gary Thompson twice failed to hit the target in the first half when well placed and Kyel Reid had a thunderous effort pushed round the post by home goalkeeper Paul Jones.

In the closing stages midfielder Gary Jones and Nathan Doyle had shots blocked inside the Crawley area.

Then Rory McArdle’s near post header in stoppage time from Rafa De Vita’s corner was blocked on the line by Crawley to ensure victory.

“We had enough chances to get something out of the game but when you are on top you have got to put the ball in the back of the net and we didn’t do that.” continued Bantams’ manager Parkinson.

“We got punished for that in the second half, but still had some terrific chances after that.”

Crawley Town: Jones; Sadler, Walsh, McFadzean, Simpson; Drury, Jones, Adams (Essam 90), Bulman; Sinclair (Alexander 79), Proctor (Connolly 87). Unused substitutes: Torres, Rooney, Maddison.

Bradford City: McLaughlin; Darby, Meredith, Bates (Connell 75), McArdle; Jones, Doyle, Reid, Thompson (De Vita 72); Hanson, Yeates (Folan 64). Unused substitutes: Ripley, Oliver, Kennedy, McHugh.

Referee: D Whitestone (Northamptonshire).

Man of the match: Jon McLaughlin.