MARK Bower had no doubt his Bradford (Park Avenue) side could see out the three points in their end-to-end 4-2 victory over York City.

The visitors halved the deficit on two occasions but goals from Lewis Knight (2), Regan Booty and Harry Boyes ensured Bradford gained Yorkshire bragging rights.

For a team which had seven first team players sidelined, Bower was pleased with the fight they showed to upset the odds.

"I am really proud of the players," he said.

"For a patched up team, we haven’t been able to work on much.

"It was not a tactical masterplan. We just picked a shape to go with the bodies we had and tried to exploit one or two weaknesses in their team.

"The lads have gone out and given us such a shift. A performance and, quality at times, that we can all be very proud of.

"Your gut reaction at 2-1 was not we are going to get beat now, in the past you would have done, but I had confidence in the team that we carried a threat.

"Getting the two goals pretty much straight after they scored gave us that cushion which forced them onto us so we could go pick them off."

Knight, who is now into double figures for the season, was a crucial cog in Avenue's plans to dismantle the league favourites.

"We have scored four goals and we could have had a couple more.

"We wanted to play against the wind first half because that would draw them up the pitch and help us exploit the space in behind.

"The breezy conditions worked an absolute treat to how we wanted to go.

"We knew how we could hurt them and the execution of balls in behind from Nicky Clee and Regan Booty was really good. It gave Lewis the opportunities which he got.

On his star man, Bower added: "Lewis carries a threat.

"He misses chances but because he makes good runs, he gets himself opportunities. You would rather have a striker that misses three chances and scores two than one who doesn’t get in those positions.

"Lewis has got scope to improve his game. He has been a really asset for us. He looked a lot stronger with the ball in the final third which we have been talking to him about."