Notts County 1 Bradford City 1: Changes prove a hit for City’s Parkinson

The Bantams remain three points shy of the play-off positions with a game in hand after after Jon Stead’s goal shortly before the break was cancelled out by Mike Edwards’s second-half header.

Stead swept in to convert Francois Zoko’s cross from the left to give City the lead in first-half stoppage-time.

James Hanson failed to convert in a scramble and Zoko should have done better with a header before City were made to pay when Edwards rose high to head in a corner and earn County a much-needed point in their bid to beat the drop.

Parkinson said: “I thought we were excellent today and let them off the hook. We had four or five gilt-edged chances in the second half to kill the game.

“I couldn’t have asked for more and the lads who came in were our best players. They didn’t weaken the team and, in certain areas, they strengthened it.”

Notts County manager Shaun Derry: “It was a big point for us. Obviously the whole half-time team talk went out of the window when we conceded just before the break, which really disappointed me.

“I just thought the reaction in the second half was big, it was a big reaction. We dug in where it mattered, defended the balls coming into our box like Trojans.”

Notts County: Carroll, Mullins, Edwards, Hollis, Adams (Newton 72), Curtis Thompson, Whitehouse (Bajner 64), Jones, McCourt, Garry Thompson, Lita (Wroe 88). Unused substitutes: Smith, Hayhurst, Daniels, Pilkington.

Bradford City: Alnwick, Darby, McArdle, MacKenzie, Meredith, Routis (Morais 68), Liddle, Dolan, Yeates, Zoko (Clarke 73), Stead (Hanson 60). Unused substitutes: Sheehan, Knott, Williams, Halliday.

Referee: M Brown (East Yorkshire).

Man of the match: Mark Yeates.