Bradford City 2, Port Vale 1

By Richard Sutcliffe.

Paul Jewell's call for a killer instinct in front of goal was finally heeded by his Bradford City side in a tense encounter at Valley Parade.

The City boss had been frustrated to see his side drop vital points due to an inability to convert good approach play into goals.

The Bantams' three previous games had yielded just one point when a bit more composure and good fortune at vital times could have brought a richer harvest.

Such had been the bad luck suffered by City and Jewell in recent weeks, that you were left wondering if the City manager had run over a black cat or broken a mirror since taking charge of the club seven weeks ago.

However despite rarely hitting top form against relegation-threatened Vale, Jewell's side enjoyed a little slice of luck in a tension-packed finale to hold on for an important victory.

It was a gutsy performance from the Bantams packed full of passion and typified by the determination which saw both Andy Melville and Nigel Pepper muscle the visiting defence out of the way either side of half time to power in the decisive headed goals.

Their strikes were the perfect answer to Jewell's call to be more ruthless in front of goal.

Melville, in particular, deserved strong praise for the courageous way he converted Chris Wilder's right wing cross. The on-loan defender needed extensive treatment after a nasty clash of heads after nodding the ball into the net.

His 34th minute equaliser was vital as it cancelled out Martin Foyle's superbly flicked header six minutes earlier and paved the way for Pepper to cap a fine individual performance with the winner 13 minutes after the break.

Like Melville, the midfielder also showed great determination to meet Robbie Blake's pin-point cross and his header was far too firm for Vale keeper Arjan van Heusden to handle.

This should have been the signal for City to take the game to the visitors in the hope that they could finish off John Rudge's side in the veteran manager's 800th game in charge of Port Vale.

Unfortunately, City's tendency to defend far too deeply in the final 20 minutes of a game which they are leading saw the all too predictable frantic end.

Vale seized their chance to step up their attacking efforts and the City defence found themselves under constant pressure as they were repeatedly forced to hack the ball clear.

Both Melville and Andy O'Brien, who moved in to the back four after Eddie Youds left the field with a stomach muscle injury after 34 minutes, worked tirelessly all evening against a lively Vale attack.

And Gary Walsh again proved his tremendous value to City with some fine work in goal, including a superb late save to deny Foyle a second goal after he had been superbly picked out by substitute Tony Naylor.

However, despite this late scare City held on to register their fourth victory under Jewell and chalk up 48 points - the same number of points as they earned in the whole of last season.

It also sets the Bantams up for two crucial away games which could make or break their season at play-off contenders Sheffield United on Saturday and West Bromwich Albion on March 7.

Two wins could make a massive difference to their season and inspire a late play-off push,

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