CITY 2 STEVENAGE 1

IT WAS just gone the hour mark as Stuart McCall turned a concerned eye towards the City dug-out.

From up in his perch in the stand, the manager's new home in these COVID times, he was checking on whether it was approaching the right moment to withdraw Billy Clarke from the fray.

Not based on his performance, far from it, as the Irishman continues to provide that cultured edge to the team’s play.

But McCall was wondering if Clarke was tiring and needed to be withdrawn for a breather.

Kenny Black, prowling the touchline, persuaded him to think again. Keep Clarke on and he can still create something to break the deadlock.

It proved an inspired call by McCall’s number two. Clarke’s influence on the game, which had been considerable, never waned – and he did produce the special touch that sealed the deal on the first league win.

Lee Novak grabbed the headlines with his second-half brace that took his goal tally to four in the opening month and will buy further time in the clamour to recruit one more striker before the deadline.

“Champagne SuperNovak” was Clarke’s appreciative nod to his free-scoring team-mate on Twitter.

But Novak knew the debt he owed to the man who is the real oasis of calm in the hurly-burly of League Two.

Clarke has never been the fastest but his speed of thought to find those little gaps and create space for himself and others sets him apart from most at this level.

It’s why Grimsby were so keen to hang on to him after his short-term stay – and why McCall wanted him back yet again.

Those who decry bringing back former players only have to look at his cleverness on the ball. That has not diminished over time.

The winning goal summed up the experience and craft of the two 30-somethings. Novak won the flick-on, Clarke controlled, swivelled and laid back a wonderful pass into his path and the striker coolly converted.

It was executed with the minimum of fuss because they made it look easy.

Fittingly, Clarke had the assist in the game’s decisive moment. He had consistently eluded Stevenage’s clutches and a delicious through ball for Novak earlier had only been denied an appropriate finish by a sliding block from Luke Prosser.

It was telling that the Stevenage centre half was limping round the pitch after being forced off when City exploited his absence for Novak to win that crucial aerial challenge for the second.

So, the Bantams are off and running after a couple of near misses against Colchester and Forest Green.

They deserved it on the balance of play despite having to come from behind – as they had done against the same opposition to give McCall his first win back in charge in February.

McCall had used that memory to lift spirits at half-time as City trailed to a really sloppy goal.

He struggled to find the right phrase in the post-match press conference, settling for “accumulatively poor”, as he pointed the finger at all four defenders.

Tyler French failed to stop the cross, Reece Staunton swung and missed at it with his wrong foot and then Connor Wood and Ben Richards-Everton played a game of “after you, Claude” to usher Elliot List into position to fire home.

A backline missing both suspended O’Connors had been questioned – it was a pretty unconvincing answer.

But McCall remained confident in a side who had demonstrated their resilience the week before with numbers depleted. They didn’t shy away under duress at The New Lawn and he convinced them the moment would come if they maintained a good tempo.

City had probably passed the ball better in the first half than they did in the second.

It’s not just Clarke with the prowess to deliver at range. Elliot Watt continues to catch the eye and Callum Cooke, while still not looking in his best form, never shied away from trying to be positive.

Alongside them, Levi Sutton was an energetic, snapping presence as he went about making up for lost time after his lengthy suspension.

Cooke's weak volley straight at Jamie Cumming had been one of City’s most threatening moments before the break. The biggest was Novak’s close-range header that the Chelsea loanee did well to keep out.

It was arguably an easier chance than the two he would later put away.

But as McCall pointed out, good strikers aren’t afraid to miss. We’ve already seen that a blown chance doesn’t seem to get into Novak’s head.

Stevenage could be excused if their heads were all over the place after a manic couple of days since the first positive COVID test within the squad.

That had become three by the morning of the game but the EFL gave the green light for everything to proceed. It meant a hurried dash up the M1 at 8am for the visitors, who had scrapped their original plans to travel the previous day.

But that didn’t seem to have an obvious impact on a side totally unrecognisable from the one that scratched together just three wins last season and survived purely by default.

Only three of the 18 from their previous visit are still on the books as Alex Revell took full advantage of a clean slate with the new salary cap.

Romain Vincelot was one of those recruits and the Frenchman had been lost in his own thoughts as he took a solo stroll around the pitch, no doubt remembering good times. But that was the closest he would get to the action as his Valley Parade return was limited to the role of an unused substitute.

Gareth Evans did get on for City after his registration was done in time.

A pre-match work-out was the limit of his preparation with his new team-mates.

Evans had scored against Stevenage on the opening day of the season - his last goal in a Portsmouth shirt. And he nearly repeated the trick with a fierce effort that Cumming pushed on to the bar.

Wood also clipped the woodwork with a shot from his weaker right foot but by then City did have their noses in front.

Cooke had two bites at the cherry to equalise but Cumming denied him on both occasions before Novak made the breakthrough.

French atoned for his part in the Stevenage goal with a wonderful early cross and Novak got in front of Prosser to glance the header into the far corner of the net.

After Novak’s second, there was still sufficient time for the standard nervous flutter at the other end.

Six added minutes were long enough to stir thoughts of what had happened the previous week but thankfully Marcus Dinanga’s last-gasp overhead flew the wrong side of the post.

Clarke had departed just before - his slightly earlier finish was well deserved.