Wrexham 1

Bradford City 0

Jim Brown reckons Colin Todd's job is one of the toughest in the game - it certainly must have felt that way on Saturday.

The Bantams boss was a picture of utter frustration on the touchline in north Wales as everything conspired against him.

His team had enough of the play to have won a couple of games, let alone one. But they ended up without a goal or a point.

They were down to ten men for the last 25 minutes after Lee Crooks was sent off.

And Dean Windass, who had a goal scrubbed out by a marginal offside, is also on the banned list after collecting his fifth booking. His crime was to argue against a handball which he had controlled with his chest.

All that after Wrexham had scored before most of the sparse crowd had time to take their seats.

Who'd be a football manager?

After back-to-back away wins at Stockport and Hull, City had travelled with high hopes of clinching a hat-trick in north Wales. Their performance was arguably the best of the three games, with City bossing matters for large patches without finding that cutting edge to hit back.

They were not helped by a refereeing performance from Mark Warren which made Tony Leake, the "foul that never was" whistle blower at Valley Parade the week before, look like Pierluigi Collina in comparison.

Walsall official Warren resembles Father Ted with his mop of whitey grey hair. Or maybe he's another Max Clifford - but even the media guru's story-spinning skills would be tested to the max to explain some of Warren's bizarre decisions.

Like how did home goalkeeper Andy Dibble stay on the pitch when he caught the ball two yards outside of the penalty area? And having escaped that with a yellow, how did Dibble survive again when he prevented City from taking a corner by running 20 yards for the ball, snatching it up and refusing to let go until the Wrexham defence were ready?

There were other equally head-scratching calls. Windass looked onside when he headed home what should have been a seventh goal so far and Ben Muirhead had his heels clipped inside the box by Danny Williams - who later admitted the offence.

Todd and Bobby Davison were hopping around as if standing on hot coals on the sidelines.

Conspiracy theorists abounded among the 400 or so away fans, though Todd managed to put a lid on it afterwards.

"It's no good saying that someone up there is not with us," he said. "And we have to put our chances away.

"But given the way we played, I would have been bitterly disappointed if we had only drawn."

A quick glance at the match programme suggested there was something strange going to happen. After all, how often do you find the chairman has ordered a page to be ripped out?

The offending article was penned by a would-be director who steadfastly refuses to set foot into the club until new chief Alex Hamilton is out.

Property developer Hamilton wants to move Wrexham out of their home since 1887 - and nobody else seems to agree.

But Hamilton will probably get City's vote if a change of venue would mean a change of luck.

Todd had preached patience once again to his players. His pre-match message reminded them that games did not have to be won from the start - the previous two away wins had both been achieved with goals late in the second half.

How ironic, then, that this game should effectively be settled within 90 seconds of kicking off.

City tried to play offside but it proved too risky as Trinidadian striker Hector Sam turned the ball through the advancing black ranks for compatriot Dennis Lawrence to shoot past the stranded Paul Henderson.

Lawrence had been playing for his country in midweek and, like Donovan Ricketts on the Bantams' bench, had got out of the Caribbean in the nick of time before Hurricane Ivan had wreaked its havoc.

The 6ft 7in giant had certainly blown a hole through City's hopes of bouncing straight back from the Port Vale loss with another shut-out on the road.

City weren't helped by early bookings for Crooks and Windass while a promising four against three attack on the break came shuddering to a halt when Dele Adebola stood on the ball. But the pattern should have changed dramatically after 16 minutes when a long ball from Wayne Jacobs hung up on the wind outside the Wrexham box. Lawrence left it for Dibble, who suddenly found himself in no-man's land but carried on and caught the ball anyway.

The card was yellow. Would it have been the same had the away keeper committed the crime?

Windass was coming more and more into it and after a couple of sighters at Dibble's goal he headed home a cross by Crooks - only for the flag to immediately dampen his joy.

Then it was Adebola's turn to hold his head after Dibble's reaction save denied him that elusive first City goal with a crisp volley on the turn. The keeper then compounded the sense of injustice by blatantly holding up the corner.

Dibble should have been on his way but again Mr Warren thought otherwise.

But Wrexham boss Denis Smith knew how lucky his keeper was and replaced him at half-time anyway.

Tom Kearney, buzzing in midfield once again, went close with a left-foot drive and Mark Bower flashed a header over the bar from a corner. Even without Crooks, City remained camped in the Wrexham half.

But crosses consistently failed to find their target. Substitute Michael Symes could get no oomph to a close-range prod after great work by Kearney, and Darren Holloway sent two late blasts into the away supporters. It was that kind of day.