Puppet master!

Bradford City 2

He can't tackle, doesn't hurry back and likes to steer well clear when the going gets mucky.

It's hardly the sort of job description that would have Jim Jefferies clamouring.

The tough Scotsman's football beliefs are built on the work ethic and running until you drop, never giving up seemingly lost causes.

And yet Bradford City's new manager is so passionate about Benito Carbone - he wants the team's world to revolve around him.

Jefferies wants his side to do all the donkey work and then give the ball to the Italian to apply his touch of mastery. That was the basis of his first team talk before Saturday's 2-2 draw with Middles-brough.

Jefferies said: "I said to the players we need everybody working and pulling together.

"But maybe in the position we're in Beni is not going to win you any tackles, he's not going to challenge or look for the ball and he's not going to track runners.

"So what we've got to do is make up for that by getting the balance right. We let him float into dangerous areas so that when we win the ball he's around.

"He's got that little bit of magic and the skill that can unlock defences and score goals. You saw that with the fantastic goal he got - it was a superb strike."

Carbone, a sullen spectator on the bench at Derby, was a transformed character as he pulled the strings in City's best away performance since last season.

Gone was the moping of recent weeks as Jefferies' high-octane entrance as the Bantams' new leader got chins up, and Carbone's performance epitomised their rediscovered confidence.

He served up the first goal for Dean Windass inside two minutes to stun the Riverside faithful. It was the quickest effort of the Premiership weekend - what odds of that happening from a side that had scored only five in the previous 14 matches?

And then Carbone produced his masterclass with an effortless strike after ten minutes, bringing down Ian Nolan's punt upfield, seeing a yard of space and exploiting it ruthlessly with a dipping drive beyond Mark Schwarzer.

At that stage City looked home and dry. From their next attack they should have been as Ashley Ward slipped Dan Petrescu clear, only for the Romanian to blaze wastefully wide.

Jefferies said: "It was a dream start, especially having scored only one goal away. Boro looked edgy at that time and when Dan got behind them if he had played it across the face rather than shooting at goal, we could have finished them."

The scriptwriters would have struggled to come up with a more dramatic welcome to the Premier-ship for Jefferies, who was soon characteristically springing from the dug-out to bark instructions.

"I wanted to get involved straight away," he said. "I kept urging them on, trying to get the best out of them, and I can't complain about the effort.

"The fourth officials are also very nice down here. He kept telling me politely how long I could stand out there and how far I could go!"

But all thoughts of an elusive away victory - and first three-pointer since August 22 - sadly drifted away as Boro staggered off the ropes to scramble a point against wilting opponents.

It wasn't just the saturated pitch that took it out of City. Going so long without success has clearly drained the players mentally.

Jefferies felt the team were a bit flummoxed by their fast start and were left not knowing what to do.

He said: "When you're in that position, 2-0 up so early, and you've not been there for a while then maybe there is a downside because there was too long to go.

"If it's 15 minutes from the end you're laughing but with 75 minutes they were obviously a bit apprehensive. That crept into their play second half when we didn't hold the ball or pass it as well as we had done. We sat back too much and were a bit too cautious.

"That came from tired legs but also a lot of it from belief. To get so close is a big disappointment for all of us but there are positives to take from the game."

The half-time gameplan was to keep it tight and let Boro's nerves strangle their comeback hopes. Instead the home side had got one back inside two minutes when Ugo Ehiogu converted a deep corner.

City's failure to deal with crosses plagued them all afternoon and Boro twice headed against the bar from centres.

The dismissal of Argentine debutant Carlos Marinelli for a dreadful two-footed jump at Billy McKinlay should have finished off the home side.

But City's frail confidence kept their attacking ambitions checked and Boro were able to regroup for one final assault.

Joseph-Desire Job's arrival for the anonymous Noel Whelan - whose chief contribution had been booting seven bells out of a corner flag - gave the home side new zip and he won another aerial clash to set up Paul Ince's late, late equaliser.

Jefferies said: "We've made a start and now it's my job to work out what we are weak on. It will take two to three weeks to gradually piece it together but we've trained the players hard and everybody knows the need to do more of that."

Even the little fella who doesn't like being at the sharp end.