Bradford City 1 Northampton Town 1: Jackson left bemused as City fall flat and referee Lewis takes centre stage

Nonetheless, Bradford City’s interim manager consoled himself with the thought that at least City had extended their unbeaten run to three matches after they were forced to settle for a point against a club below them.

This was Jackson’s fourth match in charge since taking over from Peter Taylor and, having seen City begin a mini-revival by winning their previous two games to ease relegation worries, he admitted: “I was a bit disappointed with the performance. We didn’t play as well as we have done. We never really got going.

“We got the perfect start when Jake Speight put us in front with a penalty, but I couldn’t understand why we were a bit flat. We extended our unbeaten run, but we want to get away from the bottom of the table and we were disappointed to drop two home points.”

Speight put City in front after eight minutes when Kevin Ellison’s cross was handled by right back Nana Ofori-Twumasi, but Bradford were unable to add to their lead and paid the price when Northampton ended their run of four successive defeats by equalising in the 59th minute, also with a penalty.

Shaun Harrad scored from the spot after being brought down by Lewis Hunt, switched from right-back to the centre of the defence after Luke Oliver retired with a hamstring injury at half time.

The main talking point was the performance of referee Rob Lewis, who sent off City’s Jon Worthington in stoppage time for a second bookable offence and also booked nine other players – four from City. Neither manager was impressed.

Bradford City: McLaughlin, Hunt, Oliver (Syers half time), Williams, O’Brien, Evans, Flynn (Adeyemi 71), Worthington, Ellison, Hanson, Speight (Dobie 87). Unused substitutes: Saxton, Osborne, Bullock, Threlfall.

Northampton Town: Dunn, Ofori-Twunmasi, Johnson, Webster (Beckwith 87), Hall, Davis (Reckord 79), Osman (Wedderburn 77), Walker, Jacobs, Holt, Bauza. Unused substitutes: Collis, Rodgers, Holt, Gilligan.

Referee: R Lewis (Shrewsbury).

Man of the match: Jon McLaughlin.