Nice one my son, as Bantams home and h-O's-ed – with a little help from the Knotts

CITY should club together to make sure Billy Knott’s parents are there every week.

Mum and dad have watched three games since Knott headed north in the summer – the Bantams have won the lot and their son has scored every time!

After Crawley away and the Capital One Cup classic with Leeds, you can add Leyton Orient on Saturday to the list for City’s lucky omens from Canvey Island.

It seems the Only Way to win is with Essex there...

Knott had his own personal fan club at Valley Parade as a posse of friends and family made the trip from home to mark his 22nd birthday the day before.

Saturday night was always going to be a lively one – and he made sure the celebrations began early with his first goal since that memorable strike against the noisy neighbours at the end of August.

His finish into the same net in front of the Kop was hardly of the same calibre, rolling the ball home after the excellent Jon Stead had carved the O’s wide open.

But it was arguably just as significant on a ghost-busting afternoon for the home side. At last, City have remembered how to win at Valley Parade.

After the false dawns against Doncaster and Gillingham, a home game finally went to plan. And suddenly the Bantams find themselves back into the top ten and within touching distance once more of a play-off spot.

The performances were there for the previous two outings but City paid the price for lacking an end product. Not this time.

The shot count illustrated the one-way traffic, the home side mustering over 20 efforts on goal and Leyton Orient just one on target.

The fact that the visitors scored with their only accurate shot did raise the scary prospect of a sequel to Gillingham’s smash and grab the week before.

But this time, at least, the clock was on City’s side. They had a good 20 minutes to respond again rather than 20 seconds.

They also received a helping hand from rookie referee Darren Handley, whose trigger reaction to Chris Dagnall’s foul on Knott certainly swayed the contest back in their favour.

The one-time City loanee was late with the challenge but Knott over-egged the reaction with a roll or two. Dagnall must have anticipated a yellow card but instead the first-year official reached straight for his red.

As the striker trailed dejectedly off the pitch, any momentum that Leyton Orient had built from their unexpected equaliser went with him.

City, to their credit, regained control of the situation and took full advantage. So much so, that there wasn’t a squeak of alarm or discomfort in the final ten minutes – and when could we last say that?

Phil Parkinson had talked in the build-up about keeping confidence levels high despite that deflating stoppage-time sucker punch last time out.

And City’s first-half dominance suggested there were no mental scars carried over. Mark Yeates typically set the tone with a dipping half-volley early on, Andy Halliday diverted a close-range header straight at keeper Adam Legzdins and Clarke flicked another just beyond the far post.

Stead and Clarke are a joy to watch when in full flow and their cleverness of thought and movement was proving too much for the Orient rearguard.

Yeates and Halliday kept them well supplied from either side and Knott’s bustling midfield play rediscovered the joi de vivre of his opening month of the campaign.

But some things never change. Clarke’s goal-bound shot was sneakily turned away by centre half Scott Cuthbert’s right arm and referee Handley refused to flinch under the weight of home appeals.

The volume of City attacks continued to build towards the break. Yeates fired over again then Stead burst through but saw his effort smothered one-on-one by Legzdins.

Orient, who had managed just one off-target shot from the otherwise disinterested Gianvito Plasmati, were hanging on for the half-time whistle like a boxer desperate for the end of the round.

They did not get there as Halliday clipped a pass over the top to pick out another intelligent run from Stead. The striker drew the defence and committed the keeper before leaving Knott to convert.

The midfielder fittingly gestured towards his private gang as he milked the goal celebration.

Leyton Orient picked their game up after the break but then they could have not been as poor again.

Slowly, they edged their way into the contest and home hearts were in mouths when a cross by Andrea Dossena, the left back once of Liverpool, struck another Anfield old boy on the arm.

But skipper Stephen Darby got away with it as Handley perhaps decided to “even things up” for his earlier non-penalty award.

City had lost some of their fluency and an edginess was creeping into the crowd.

The similarities with the previous Saturday were evident, especially when Halliday’s header was fumbled on to the bar by Legzdins.

Foiled once again by the woodwork, City found themselves pegged back to level terms three minutes later.

Orient had got little change out of the home defence up to that point but Rory McArdle slipped and allowed sub David Mooney to power away and finish with aplomb. Parkinson had been undone by one of his Colchester old boys.

But Dagnall’s dismissal instantly restored the odds in City’s favour and they cashed in with two goals in the space of three minutes to dismiss any doubts.

Yeates burrowed into the box and created space for James Meredith to drive in a low cross which Clarke buried in the roof of the net.

Then Legzdins, whose kicking had been flaky throughout, scuffed another from a lively back pass straight to Stead, who gobbled up the gift.

Home, sweet home once more ...

City v Orient picture gallery