Wells in at the double as Parkinson’s Bantams warm-up for Cup replay

City had not picked up a single point in their four previous trips to the Recreation Ground but never looked like collecting anything other than a maximum on Saturday.

Nathan Doyle forced a great save from Jamie Young with an effort from the edge of the area after 15 minutes.

But the goalkeeper was helpless to prevent City from going ahead just before the half-hour when Wells forced Sonny Bradley into an error before racing into the area and finishing coolly from 15 yards.

Wells was wide after another one-on-one in the 37th minute but made amends by doubling Bradford’s lead six minutes before the break.

Rory McArdle’s sweeping pass found Craig Forsyth on the left and he fed James Hanson. The striker’s shot was blocked but his partner Wells was on hand to fire home the rebound.

The second half was more of the same but, sadly for City, without any addition to the score.

Wells might have completed his hat-trick with an overhead kick 15 minutes from the end that came back off the base of the post and substitute Zavon Hines saw a similar effort bounce agonisingly wide six minutes from the end.

Aldershot went closest to scoring only their third home goal of the league campaign in the first half when Danny Hylton’s close-range effort was cleared off the line by Stephen Darby.

This third away win of the season has lifted Phil Parkinson’s men to fourth place in the table ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup first round replay at home to Northampton Town.

Aldershot Town: Young: Hird, Brown, Bradley, Morris; Vincenti (Rankine 68), Rose, Payne, Cadogan (Lopez 68); Donnelly (Seidi 60), Hylton. Unused substitutes: Branston, Morris, Cooksley, Munns.

Bradford City: Duke; Darby, McArdle, Egan, Meredith; Atkinson, G Jones, Doyle, Forsyth; Wells (Hines 80), Hanson. Unused substitutes: McLaughlin, Connell, McHugh, Thompson, Ravenhill, Brown.

Referee: O Langford (West Midlands).

Man of the match: Nahki Wells.