Bradford City's means-to-an-end football pleases Graham Alexander despite Bolton Wanderers defeat

It took until 94 minutes of game three of this year's Football League play-offs to summon up a goal, and Ben Osborn's for Stockport County was about as ugly as they come.

So anyone who tuned in – and most Bradford fans had to with Bolton granting a stingy allocation despite being unable to fill the ground – expecting a League One Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich was always likely to be disappointed.

Not Alexander.

He admitted it would have been better had his team scored (or even hit the target) with one of their few chances, but the Bantams boss is a former defender to the core. Limiting Bolton to one shot on target put a smile on his face, even if Amario Cozier-Duberry did score it, and Bradford did lose.

This was Alexander’s 11th play-offs, playing and managing. He knows the score.

A two-goal win at Valley Parade – such a stronghold since he got his players to embrace rather than fear it – will do the job. Even a 1-0 after 120 minutes and a clinical penalty shoot-out will see them to Wembley.

"I think it's important you take it into the second leg, whether it's home or away, and we've certainly done that," he said at full-time.

Bradford will need to be more creative and clinical at home, but an unseasonably cold evening was for gritting your teeth, not showing off.

Their best chances fell to Antoni Sarcevic, booed by his old fans.

Chris Forino blocked his first-half chance, and he missed from a tight angle in the second. Perhaps less than 90 minutes into a 180 or maybe 210-minute tie was just too early to get the juices of Bradford's biggest big-game player flowing.

In the 79th minute, substitute Tyreik Wright threaded a lovely ball to Kayden Jackson, who was nudged in the back by George Johnston. Bolton also had penalty appeals waved away when they nearly took advantage of penalty-area scruffiness by Joe Wright deep in stoppage time.

But David Rock was as hands-off in his refereeing as Martin Coy had been before his muscle injury early in the second half. Even rugby tackles were fair game, judging by Josh Sheehan's on Josh Neufville.

For Alexander's positivity to stay intact on Thursday, the Bantams will have to sharpen their attacking.

Unsightly Stevenage apart, their goals scored tally was comfortably the smallest of any team in this season's top half. Sarcevic has 11 for the campaign but only Bobby Pointon (10) is with him in double figures, and the Bradfordian and his injured ankle were in the away end.

The three centre-forwards signed to zhuzh things up in January have three goals between them, all to Jackson. Loanees Paul Mullin and Ethan Wheatley feel like their Bradford careers might be over.

The Bantams will also have to be better on the ball, having invited too much pressure in Lancashire.

Once Aden Baldwin threw himself in the way of Ibrahim Cissoko in the 13th minute, Bolton got an iron grip on the first half.

"They're one of the highest possession teams in the league so we knew that was the game," said Alexander. But Bradford over-played it.

They were very compact, most Bolton shots or final balls bouncing off a claret-and-amber wall to the extent that Eoin Toal finished the half with a shot from a distance so optimistic, it was almost ridiculous.

"We didn't have any real pressure on our goal for sustained periods," said Alexander. "They had a lot of possession (but) a long way from our goal, a lot of mid-third stuff.

"We had to keep our discipline in our structure to make sure that we didn't get lulled into anything they were trying to be."

Bradford began the second half playing higher up the field, and keeping the ball better.

But they got strung out for a few minutes and it cost them.

With the ball over on the left, there was too wide a gap for Ruben Rodrigues to run between Curtis Tilt and Ibou Tourray. He could not get on the end of Cissoko's ball over but beyond him, Cozier-Duberry curled in a brilliant goal.

Three minutes later, he hit the far post after Tilt gifted him the ball. It rolled all the way in front of the goal.

"We maybe looked like we were going to try and chase an equaliser straight away when there was plenty of this game left,” said Alexander. “Once we gathered our composure back, I thought it was a fair result.

"To restrict them to one shot on target, I thought it was an excellent performance from that point of view. I (liked) the way the players understood the game, didn't get swayed by the crowd or atmosphere."

It was means-to-an-end football from a shrewd manager. Now Bradford have to find the end to justify it.

Bolton Wanderers: Bonham; Osei-Tutu, Toal, Forino, Johnston; Sheehan, Erhahon (Simons 70); Cozier-Duberry, Rodrigues (McAtee 80), Cissoko (Conway 90+5); Burstow (Dalby 80). Unused substitutes: Gale, Harrington, Christie.

Bradford City: Walker; Baldwin, J Wright, Tilt; Neufville, Power, Metcalfe, Touray; Lapslie (T Wright 67), Sarcevic; Jackson (Powell 80). Unused substitutes: Humphrys, Kelly, Swan, Hilton, Pennington.

Referee: M Coy (Durham).