Bradford City 1, Tottenham 1; by Richard Sutcliffe, at Valley Parade.

Stuart McCall's equalising goal against Tottenham 161 seconds into stoppage time may not have been enough to lift Bradford City out of the bottom three of the Premiership.

But what the inspirational skipper's stooping header did manage to do is lift the spirits of supporters and players alike at a time when doubts may have started to creep in.

City had gone into the clash with Tottenham's expensively-assembled side with three successive defeats behind them.

This had left worried fans forecasting a long and hard winter among English football's elite - a fact illustrated by the City Gent fanzine placing their tongue-firmly in their cheek by titling yesterday's new edition 'Official Pessimistic Issue'.

And when Tottenham took the lead through Chris Perry with less than a quarter of an hour to play, it appeared that all City's industry and improved attacking play would be for nothing.

However City reacted in the best possible manner and after David Wetherall had seen his effort cleared off the line, McCall stooped to conquer and sparked mass celebrations all around the ground.

It was no more than City deserved after a much improved display against a side who will this week be competing in the UEFA Cup.

In the opening ten minutes they were rocked by Spurs' attacking zeal which threatened to rip the City defence to pieces.

The Bantams midfield were far too deep in the opening exchanges and as a result that meant as soon as the ball was cleared out of defence, the Spurs midfield were reclaiming it and launching yet another attack.

Tottenham won four corners inside the first three minutes and with David Ginola delivering some exquisite crosses, it seemed only a matter of time before City would go behind.

However after weathering this initial attacking storm, City regrouped and started to battle their way back into the match.

Gareth Whalley was central to this success in the first half with one particular 40-yard pass which played Dean Saunders through being worth the admission money alone.

Peter Beagrie also did well in the opening 45 minutes with his lunging tackling style breaking up several Spurs attacks before using his trickery out wide to great effect.

Stuart McCall also controlled the ball well in midfield and looks to be back to full match fitness after undergoing Achilles and groin operations during the summer.

Up front, Lee Mills had his best game of the season so far with his now customary hard work being combined with some intelligent link-play to power City forward.

Last season's top scorer also won the vast majority of his aerial battles and he looks to have benefited as much as anyone in terms of improving his fitness during the recent two-week break from action.

Dean Saunders also did very well in the first half with his deceptive pace seeing him get behind the Spurs defence to latch on to Whalley's fine crossfield pass only to hit his 18th minute shot just wide.

At the back, David Wetherall was again in commanding form against Ginola's devastating range of crosses while alongside him Andy O'Brien's growing maturity was again evident.

This season, the 20-year-old has excelled in midfield and at right back but it is centre half where his best position is.

And he showed just why with a very controlled display with the only possible criticism being that his distribution was sometimes a bit hurried.

Both central defenders had to be at their best against quality strikers such as Les Ferdinand and Steffen Iversen.

But the fact that neither man caught the eye despite Ginola's prompting from midfield shows just how well the City pair played.

However as determined as the Bantams defence were all afternoon, the fact that City were still in the game when McCall struck was down to Gary Walsh.

The City goalkeeper has been in superb form since his arrival in October 1997 and on his current form I doubt there is a goalkeeper playing as well in the Premiership at the moment.

Walsh was truly inspirational with top class saves denying Ginola, Iversen and Oyvind Leonhardsen at vital times.

Unfortunately, he could do nothing with the Spurs goal when it arrived - and disappointingly it again came from a set-piece.

Spurs' Chris Perry crept into the penalty area unnoticed before meeting Ginola's fantastic flag-kick to score.

Paul Jewell was unhappy to see his side concede a goal from a corner and knows that City must work a lot harder to cut out such sloppy mistakes if they are to prosper this season.

At that stage, the game looked over for City only for McCall to cap a stirring fightback with a precious goal.

A Spurs supporter preparing to leave Bradford last night was heard to mutter 'What a joke. You'd think they had won the FA Cup the way they celebrated their equaliser'.

However what that supporter failed to appreciate is that McCall's strike could prove just as priceless if it helps kick-start the Bantams' season in the coming weeks.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.