Verdict: Stuart McCall blames '˜two minutes of madness' for Bradford defeat

But the City manager will not let his players ‘dwell’ on this setback with a match against improving Oldham Athletic, who have won four in a row coming up at Valley Parade tomorrow.

“It’s no disgrace losing at Bury,” he said, “but there were two minutes of madness in the first half when we were quite comfortable and we didn’t take our chances in the second half when I thought we could win the game.”

Bradford made the perfect start, striker Charlie Wyke side footing the ball into the net after nine minutes when Luke Hendrie’s cross was flicked into his path.

However, the game turned dramatically in Bury’s favour 10 minutes later.

First, Hendrie was harshly judged to have tripped Jason Beckford in the 19th minute and Chris Maguire equalised from the spot. “He just turned into him – there was nothing in it,” said McCall. Then, one minute later, Michael Smith’s shot hit the crossbar and Beckford hooked the rebound into the net to put Bury ahead.

Bradford had enough chances to win the match in the second half with skipper Romain Vincelot and Dominic Poleon the main culprits and Bury made them pay for their misses with their third goal in the 85th minute. Former Bradford left-back Greg Leigh saw his shot charged down and Jay O’Shea hammered the loose ball into the net, the shot taking a deflection off Vincelot.

Bury: Fasan, Leigh, O’Connell, Maguire (Maguire 56), Beckford, Reilly, Edwards, Aldred, Humphrey (Bunn 43), Laurent, Smith. Unused substitutes: Malooney, Shotton, Ince, Dobre, Tutte.

Bradford City: Doyle, Hendrie (Taylor 86), Knight-Percival, Kilgallon, Chicksen, Gillead, Reeves (Patrick 78), Vincelot, Law, Wyke, Poleon. Unused substitutes: Raeder, Dieng, Field, Jones, Hanson.

Referee: D Webb (Sunderland).