ANTHONY O’Connor admits City must perfect the art of beating the Valley Parade spoilers.

The Bantams clinched their third League Two win with a dramatic comeback against Northampton.

Paudie O’Connor’s late goal sealed the recovery after the visitors had led at half-time.

Northampton’s stalling tactics attempted to frustrate City – something Forest Green and Cambridge had achieved in previous home games.

Anthony O’Connor reckons it is something Gary Bowyer’s side will have to get used to this season.

He said: “It is frustrating but it’s just part and parcel of the game.

“If the other team are beating us, they try and kill the game. They buy free-kicks and things like that.

“Every team is going to do that when they come to Valley Parade, especially if they are protecting a lead or hanging on for a point.

“Would we be doing it if it was the other way round? We were trying to kill it off at Stevenage the other week when they were having spells on top.”

City’s weekend win was only their fourth at home since New Year’s Day and the size of the stadium ensures that opposing League Two teams will look to raise their game.

O’Connor added: “It’s the biggest in the league and naturally you are going to be up for that playing in front of 15,000.

“It’s a bit different going somewhere smaller and the crowd is just 3,000-4,000.

“When we played Cambridge, their goalkeeping coach was saying ‘this is our cup final’.

“That’s the mentality that teams are going to have just because of the stadium, the fans and everything else that goes with it.

“I saw an interview a couple of weeks ago with Gary Neville about Salford.

“They asked the players which game they were looking forward to most and quite a few of them mentioned Bradford.

"We are going to be a scalp because the size of the club and the fact we were probably bookies favourites at the start to go up.

"But it doesn't work like that and you can't just turn up and expect to win games. We've got to show it on the pitch."