Graham Alexander praises Bradford City professionalism as reshuffled defence does its job and Andy Cook does the rest

Andy Cook grabbed the attention with a goal in either half, but it was also about how the visitors defended, restricting their hosts to just two shots on target, despite having to absorb plenty of second-half pressure.

Alexander had planned to name an unchanged side but an illness to Neill Byrne forced him to drop out with illness. Brad Halliday took his place.

And early in the second half another central defender, Jack Shepherd, succumbed to a deal leg suffered at the end of the first, with Lewis Richards replacing him.

"I got a call this morning saying that Byrner had woken up feeling ill and couldn’t keep anything down," revealed Alexander.

“He came to the hotel and wanted to try and have a pre-match (meal). But he had a banana and was immediately sick.

“He wanted to give it a go in the warm-up with how he felt but he was back in within five minutes.

“We’d already teed Brad up to potentially play there in the pre-match meeting. So he was prepared for that.

"How Brad trains, he was ready physically and mentally to come into the team at the drop of a hat.

“I thought he was magnificent today in a position that I doubt he’s played many games.

"Cheick went into the middle (of the back three) where he hasn't played for us and he was excellent. There were some really strong performances in a really strong professional performance.”

Halliday's professionalism from a specialist right-back stood out.

“We try to drum it into the players that if you let yourself go, you’ll only let yourself down," said his manager. "Ultimately you’re letting your team-mates down but you won’t be in the team – or do yourself justice if you do play.”

Specialist centre-back Paul Huntington, who joined as a free agent at the start of the month, was not introduced until the closing minutes, and Alexander explained why.

"I thought about it (starting the veteran) a little bit but he had a little bit of an illness at the start of the week so we just felt was he up to speed with it?" he explained. "We don't want to start with a team where we know we have to make a sub, I think that's important.

"We made a judgement call on what we'd look like if we didn't have Byrner and fortunately for us it's worked out.

"We know they're al ready to play but it was maybe just a bit too early for him after the illness."

On Cook's performance, he added: “Cooky’s job is scoring goals and he’s very good at that. But there are other players in the team who are just as good as their jobs but they’re not the headline-grabbers.

“But if we can get him into the right areas and give him the right ammunition, as Kav (Callum Kavanagh) did for the second goal, then we know he’s a cool finisher.

“I’m delighted with the stuff he does for us off the ball as well and how he tries to understand what the team needs.

“Scoring goals is the most important for him as a No 9 but there are other things he has to do for the team. That gives me as much enjoyment as the rest.”