CITY 0 PORTSMOUTH 1

THE consensus within the victorious Portsmouth camp was unanimous.

“Bradford have got a very strong squad and one that’s not designed to be where it currently is,” said assistant boss Joe Gallen. “I think they’ll be moving up the league pretty soon.

“We watched some clips of Bradford and I think their league position is false in some respects,” added goal-scorer Gareth Evans. “They’ve got some good players on their books and on paper are a really decent team.”

Of course, it’s easy to be magnanimous about the opposition after a win, even more so when you are top.

Platitudes aren’t meant to sound patronising but for hardened City folk, it’s a case of “heard it all before.”

In isolation, Saturday’s performance was not one that suggested a team incapable of salvaging the season from the wrecking yard.

For 90 minutes at least, there certainly wasn’t a 28-point gap between the two sides who currently book-end League One.

City were competitive from first minute to last – when David Ball curled a free-kick the wrong side of the post with Portsmouth keeper Craig MacGillivray rooted to the spot. Small margins once again and all that.

The Bantams would have been worthy of sharing the spoils against opponents who have collected more away points than any other team in all four divisions.

But that’s not to suggest there was an element of bad luck about City’s sixth defeat on the bounce.

True, they matched Pompey stride for stride and refused to clam up after conceding early.

City had the chances to fight their way back – good chances. But once more, they all went begging.

None more so than the juicy opportunity handed to Hope Akpan in the first of four added minutes. A one-two with sub Sherwin Seedorf and the midfielder was suddenly in with only MacGillivray to beat.

But he shuffled the ball on to his weaker left foot and managed to clear the bar from close range.

Akpan looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up. Chances don’t come any bigger.

And so, David Hopkin’s men were left with only sympathy for souvenirs; the kind words of the travelling squad providing scant consolation at the end of an afternoon where the task just got a little bit more difficult.

That was thanks to Bristol Rovers winning handsomely at Blackpool to extend the gap from 24th to 20th – the Holy Grail position for the Bantams right now – to a worrying seven points.

While there is no need to panic with so much football still to be played, a difference of three results to get out of the bottom four represents a sizeable challenge.

Players are slowly coming back and Hopkin’s battle with the complicated free-agent market – and the pesky agents holding out for more lucrative deals – remains a constant one.

But the fear of being cut adrift is bubbling away.

“The table isn’t lying at the moment,” wrote Hopkin in his programme notes, where he once again took last week’s second-half surrender at Gillingham to task.

His team’s response to that fiasco was an admirable one but then City’s strongest performances in this wretched campaign tend to have been saved for the biggest opponents.

They also ran Sunderland close – as Jon McLaughlin admitted on stage as one of the guests of honour at Valley Parade’s celebration night for Stephen Darby. The home display against Charlton was pretty decent too.

Ultimately they may have emerged empty-handed from all three but displayed enough spirit to suggest a corner will be turned – only to fail to back it up against teams further down the table.

Hopkin once again talked about resetting the bar based on their Saturday effort and maintaining those standards in less salubrious surroundings facing less “fashionable” sides.

It’s whether City can raise themselves to work with the same commitment and enthusiasm on the messier afternoons that will decide their fate in the months ahead.

The caveat in Gallen’s post-match praise was telling: “a squad not designed to be where it currently is.”

That’s the crux of the matter. Can players, the senior ones especially, who were attracted on the promise of a tilt at the top six show the necessary grit and desire for the muck and bullets of ducking relegation?

Adam Chicksen had voiced an admirable commitment in the build-up to the game with an almost Churchillian touch to his first interview back after injury.

But his first outing under Hopkin’s command would end early, a victim of the extra pace of Portsmouth winger Jamal Lowe and a less-than-lenient referee.

Chicksen’s immediate return after two months out was part of Hopkin’s plan to pack his back four with experience.

Connor Wood was given a breather to make way while Ryan McGowan came back from suspension to once again fill in at right back.

That left him potentially vulnerable to Pompey’s dangerous Ronan Curtis – a problem Hopkin had foreseen by stacking Ball and George Miller down that side to help him out.

There was only one occasion when they really came unstuck against Curtis – and that was the goal.

City’s customary bright start, which saw the impressive Lewis O’Brien sting MacGillivray’s hands from distance, was obliterated on 12 minutes.

Anton Walkes played Lowe inside Chicksen and Pompey swiftly switched possession from right to left.

McGowan gave Curtis too much room to work with and his cutback was met decisively by the incoming Evans against his former club.

Fears of another Gillingham-style fiasco were raised as Oli Hawkins and Tom Naylor, another one-time Bantam, went close to adding more.

City may have bent slightly but they didn’t buckle. O’Brien, more than anyone, never stopped running as the hosts refused to give the leaders any respect.

Miller’s snap shot was well saved by MacGillivray and Anthony O’Connor should have done better with a free header he bounced weakly into the keeper’s arms.

Akpan, then Ball – chances came, chances went. How Hopkin must have cast envious eyes at an unused Brett Pitman on the visiting bench.

They have still to come back in any game this season. They have still to claim anything from a game when the other team score.

The performance delivered hope – and was unrecognisable from that shambles in Kent – but points remain the only currency that matter.