Stuart McCall cursed City’s luck after they lost further ground with last night’s defeat at Bury.

The Bantams went down 2-1 at Gigg Lane to drop to 15th – eight points off the last play-off spot.

But they controlled large chunks of the game against the third-placed Shakers, adding to McCall’s frustration at another hard-luck story.

“How many times have we said that this season?” he admitted. “I’m running out of ways to describe it.

“It’s easy for a manager to have a pop at players in the dressing room but I’ve not been able to do that this season.

“Last year there were a lot of disappointing performances towards the end. We were getting beaten away from home and I couldn’t take anything out of it.

“But that’s certainly not the case with us now. I just feel for the players because they are putting everything in.

“Alan Knill (Bury manager) said we certainly didn’t deserve that. The effort, pressure and desire from everyone was there for all to see.”

City, who were missing James Hanson and Lee Bullock through injury, hit back from Mike Jones’s opener to level with an Efe Sodje own goal. But Ryan Lowe’s 31st-minute penalty clinched it after a foul by debut keeper Matt Glennon.

Chris Brandon struck the post in a one-sided second half but City slipped to their first away defeat in the league since October. They now face two more away trips, at Lincoln on Saturday and then Torquay.

McCall added: “There was nothing between the sides and it was just down to who would get the rub of the green. You could be despondent but the players didn’t hide or buckle.

“With the run we’re having at the minute where things aren’t going for us, you’ve just got to believe that it will change.

“We haven’t got what we deserve yet again but keep playing like that and I’m sure it will start to go for us.

“Looking at the points tally is not good news and is hard for us but I don’t have to pick the players up because they know that we are good enough.”