Phil Parkinson was left cursing a brilliant display from Coventry keeper Joe Murphy after City missed the chance of back-to-back away wins.

The Bantams moved another point nearer to League One safety after last night’s goalless draw at Sixfields.

They dominated the Sky Blues but Murphy produced two stunning saves to deny strikers Aaron Mclean and Jon Stead. Adam Reach also hit the bar with a header.

Parkinson said: “Their keeper has pulled off two of the best saves I’ve seen. The one from Mclean’s header was incredible. But he’s a top goalkeeper and Championship standard.

“I think Aaron did everything right. We jumped up and were celebrating on the bench.

“But he just clawed it out – it was a fantastic save. Then he pulled off another great one from Jon Stead.

“In those instances, they both did everything right in terms of technique. But sometimes you’ve just got to applaud the goalkeeper.”

City followed up Saturday’s win at Leyton Orient with another clean sheet. Despite his frustration at the outcome, Parkinson was delighted by a second strong display on the road.

“After the Walsall game, Bradford City was a low place to be at,” he added. “To then go on our travels and regroup as well as we’ve done, four points is a good return.

“We’re really pleased. We can bemoan our luck and the lads will be disappointed not to get the win but it was important we got the point.

“We should have come away 2-0 or 3-0 winners. But in games like that when you have dominated, you’ve also got to be careful you don’t switch off and end up losing.

“I was pleased that as well as we played going forward, we also concentrated at the back. We had so much play in their half and Jon (McLaughlin) was rarely threatened.

“It summed up the performance when they had a shot in the last 30 seconds of the first half and the whole crowd cheered sarcastically.”

City are now up to 49 points – the average mark for survival over the past decade. But Parkinson has no intention of letting anyone ease up.

“Who knows what the cut-off point will be? But we’re nine points ahead of the bottom four.

“I just want to keep going until we are mathematically safe and I told the lads before the game that the team who switched off and thought they’d cracked it would lose.

“To be fair to Coventry, they were focused as well even though they weren’t great. But both teams want to keep going.”

City were worried whether Stead would be up to playing again so soon after his debut at the weekend. But Parkinson felt the new loan striker stepped up a gear.

He said: “Jon’s calves tightened up with cramp on Saturday and we were concerned about him.

“We thought it might be a big ask because he’s not played that much first-team football this season. But he looked stronger.

“He played well on Saturday and even better last night.”