February 2015: CITY 2 (O’Shea own goal 2, Stead 61) SUNDERLAND 0

BILLY Clarke’s second Valley Parade bow last weekend revives memories of one of his best games in a City shirt.

The next instalment of our new weekly feature recalling memorable matches sees us take a look back to February 2015 and the FA Cup fifth-round home tie with Sunderland.

The sides are currently separated by 24 points in League One – and the Bantams still feel aggrieved not to get a point from the Stadium of Light on Boxing Day with the Jack Payne controversy.

But wind the clock back four years ago this weekend and there was a two-division gap between Phil Parkinson’s City and the Wearsiders.

Even on the back of that incredible win at Chelsea in the previous round, Sunderland still rolled into West Yorkshire as firm favourites.

Every underdog has his day but surely this lot couldn’t bite twice?

But City didn’t need to bother playing any mind games in the build-up. Black Cats boss Gus Poyet got into his own team’s heads well enough.

In what must surely rank as the worst example ever of man management and motivation, the Uruguayan grumbled publicly about the Valley Parade pitch for a solid week before the tie.

The playing surface was dreadful; a mindful of mud and unpredictable bounce – but didn’t Poyet make sure his side knew it and planted the mental gremlins.

Ironically, he would later refuse to blame the pitch for Sunderland’s woeful display. But the fragility of their efforts were hardly a surprise with such a defeatist build-up.

City had been miffed at being overlooked for live TV coverage. The club tweeted Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker afterwards with the cheeky reminder “not to stand us up next round.”

The Beeb missed a treat as Valley Parade’s biggest home crowd for 55 years delivered a raucous atmosphere that caught the top-flight opponents cold.

Clarke defied the rutted surface with his tight control and took full advantage of the space that Sunderland allowed him.

But he was pushing it too far to claim the opening goal after just three minutes. The visitors failed to clear a free-kick from Filipe Morais and Clarke’s bobbling shot was diverted into the net by centre half John O’Shea.

Clarke’s shot was clearly missing the far post but the unfortunate intervention of the former Man United man deflected it past keeper Vito Mannone.

City’s second goal just after the hour was particularly sweet for scorer Jon Stead.

It not only maintained a remarkable run of hitting the net in every round but also proved an emphatic point to a club where he had flopped.

Stead had joined Sunderland for £1.8 million 10 years earlier but struggled so much that it took him 30 games to get off the mark.

When he did finally break his duck against Everton the following April, a club fanzine printed up ironic t-shirts proclaiming “I saw Jon Stead score a goal.”

So revenge, a decade on, was particularly sweet.

Having won the free-kick which led to City’s early opener, he finished off a second which summed up the never-say-die attitude of that Parkinson team.

James Meredith chased winger Adam Johnson into a corner near his own penalty area. The Sunderland man panicked and shanked the clearance with his weaker right foot and Stead picked it off before calmly slotting home.

As Valley Parade rejoiced, Parkinson remarked on the “throwback” feel to the place.

“You can’t win every week,” he said. “But every time we play we give it everything we’ve got and the supporters, and people of Bradford, have responded to that.”

CITY: Williams, Darby, McArdle, Davies, Meredith, Liddle, Morais, Knott (Halliday 79), Clarke (Yeates 86), Hanson, Stead (Zoko 89).

SUNDERLAND: Mannone, Jones (Vergini 86), O’Shea, Brown, van Aanholt, Alvarez (Honeyman 86), Bridcutt, Larsson, Johnson, Fletcher, Graham (Wickham 45).

REFEREE: Kevin Friend

ATTENDANCE: 24,021