Northampton Town 0 Bradford City 1: Goal fit to win any game, claims McCall

The result was enough to move the Bantams above Wigan Athletic into third spot in the league One table

It was McMahon’s first goal of the 2017-18 campaign and came 10 minutes before the break with a exquisite curling free-kick into the top corner from 20 yards out.

The visitors had a number of other chances before the break, with Nicky Law, Dominic Poleon and Charlie Wyke all going close, while the hosts were not without chances to register a goal themselves.

Not surprisingly, the Cobblers threw everything they had at their League One rivals after the break, but goalkeeper Colin Doyle and his team-mates were equal to the challenge.

Strikers Alex Revell and Marc Richards both had good opportunities to level for the home side, but the Bantams held on for a deserved three points.

Manager Stuart McCall said: “The goal was fit to win any game but I thought in the first half we had chances and we played some good football.

“We knew in the second half they would come at us. They’ve probably got the biggest side in the league for set pieces so we knew we’d have to be really strong and there was going to be a lot of defending.

“I was disappointed we couldn’t get our foot on the ball a bit more but Northampton have won two on the bounce at home and I saw them against Wigan in midweek and clearly the new manager has turned them around.

“It was always going to be a tough game and we were camped in a bit more than we would have liked and they put a lot of balls in and we maybe rode our luck in the last few minutes.

“Overall, we won again and it’s another clean sheet. This is a tough place to come and they’ve got a good squad this season so they’ll beat a lot of sides here.”