New faces required for Bradford City after another home defeat

McCall was lacking five players whom he said ‘would be regulars’, including, crucially, back injury victim and leading scorer Charlie Wyke, as League One play-off contenders Bantams slipped to their seventh home league defeat of the season against bottom-four side Northampton.

“You want to come out of the transfer window stronger,” said McCall, who wants to keep full-back Tony McMahon despite Scunthorpe’s interest. “We have got bids in for certain players. We are just waiting for good news.”

Northampton went in front in the 42nd minute when John-Joe O’Toole broke free to score with a close-range header from Matt Grimes’s corner.

McCall moved defender Nat Knight-Percival up front to give City more height in attack after half-time, but they fell further behind in the 61st minute through Chris Long’s low shot just inside the near post.

After substitute Dominic Poleon struck the bar in the 83rd minute, Paul Taylor pulled a goal back in stoppage time with a super 25-yard shot, but it was too late to save the game.

“The first goal was going to be crucial,” said McCall, “but we gave it away – a free header from a corner. We have got to be more disciplined at defending set-pieces than that.

“We were more threatening in the second half and we had enough opportunities to get a point out of the game, but we gave away another poor goal.”

Bradford City: Raeder, Hanson (Guy 65), Knight-Percival, Kilgallon, Robinson, Gilliead, Vincelot, Dieng, Law, McCartan (Poleon 71), P Taylor. Unused substitutes: Sattelmaier, Reeves, Pybus, Devine, Gibson.

Northampton Town: O’Donnell, Facey, Poole, Turnbull, A Taylor, Crooks, Grimes, Hoskins (Powell 75), O’Toole (Pereira 87), Foley, Long (Revell 85). Unused substitutes: Cornell, Moloney, Buchanan, McWilliams.

Referee: C Hicks (Surrey).