Crewe Alexandra 2 Bradford City 1: Pressure intensifies on Taylor as Bantams slip to defeat at Crewe

Crewe played for the whole of the second half with 10 men, but they hung on to fire themselves into the automatic promotion places.

It was a case of an in and an out for the Bantams ahead of the game.

Sian Massey was pulled out of assistant refereeing duties at Gresty Road thanks to her ongoing innocent involvement in the Andy Gray Sky Sports saga, while new City midfielder Jonathan Worthington was in for an immediate start only hours after signing on loan from Oldham Athletic.

The Bantams got off to a disastrous start as they went behind after 15 minutes when Shaun Miller crossed in low for Clayton Donaldson who made no mistake from close range.

City rallied and grabbed a goal back when Shane Duff headed in Dave Syers's cross, but barely a minute later Moore handed Crewe a half-time lead when he smashed the ball home after receiving a nicely-weighted pass from Luke Murphy.

In first half stoppage-time the hosts were reduced to ten, however, with Donaldson seeing red after a nasty reaction to a challenge from former Huddersfield Town captain Worthington.

Taylor made a double switch 10 minutes after the restart, and Omar Daley in particular looked sharp, testing Steve Phillips with a smart shot.

Tom Adeyemi then got in on the act, but he fired disappointingly over from the edge of the box.

City piled on the pressure in the final quarter as Adeyemi again, Daley again, and fellow sub Michael Flynn all fluffed good chances, but Crewe somehow managed to hang on for the victory.

Crewe Alexandra: Phillips, Tootle, Blanchett, Ada, Dugdale, Westwood, Murphy, Bell, Donaldson, Miller (Powell 80), Moore. Unused substitutes: Fogler, Mitchell-King, Shelley, Davis, Grant, Leitch-Smith.

Bradford City: McLaughlin, O'Brien, Oliver, Duff, Eckersley, Osborne (Flynn 82), Worthington (Speight 55), Adeyemi, Syers, Evans (Daley 55), Hanson. Unused substitutes: Saxton, Hunt, Threlfall, Cullen.

Referee: K Wright.