Lincoln City 2 Bradford City 1: Pressure builds as Bantams fail again

The Bantams lost the game in the opening 45 minutes when they allowed Lincoln to twice sweep straight through the middle of their defence to score.

Manager Stuart McCall, under pressure after a dreadful run, reacted by replacing Jonathan Bateson and captain Zesh Rehman at the break but it was already too late.

The defeat means Bradford's only victories in their last 11 League games have come against Darlington and Grimsby – the teams at the bottom.

It might have been different if the Bantams had taken early chances with Luke O'Brien and Gareth Evans the culprits.

But with James Hanson injured and Michael Boulding starting on the bench as a result of an overnight illness, Bradford lacked a cutting edge up front and were forced to throw midfielder Michael Flynn into the front line once they fell behind.

Lincoln's opener came in the 31st minute when Delroy Facey headed on to Brian Gilmour, who played in Chris Herd for an easy goal. Bradford's problems increased six minutes later when Facey flicked on for the diminutive Gilmour, who forced his way past two defenders to score.

The Bantams pressed in the second half, finishing with both centre-backs and goalkeeper Matt Glennon up front but apart from a 62nd-minute goal from Michael Boulding their efforts came to nothing.

Lincoln City: Burch; Green, Watts, Baker, Anderson; Hughton, Saunders, Kerr, Herd (Clarke 72); Gilmour (Uwezu 65); Facey (John-Lewis 78). Unused substitutes: Swaibu, Connor, Keltie, Musselwhite.

Bradford City: Glennon; Bateson (M Boulding 46), Rehman (Williams 46), Clarke, L O'Brien; Bullock, Flynn, Brandon, Ramsden; Daley; Evans (Neilson 75). Unused substitutes: R Boulding, Horne, J O'Brien, McLaughlin.

Referee: S Bratt (Walsall).

Man of the match: Chris Brandon.

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