DAVID Wetherall’s swallow dive, Nigel Pepper’s thunderous free-kick, Paul Simpson smacking the inside of the post – iconic moments of final-day drama as a City fan.

They were the ultimate “I was there” incidents in victories over Liverpool, QPR and Wolves and outcomes that had even more impact because of the sense of theatre.

Throw in the “battle of Boothferry Park” when victory at Hull would ultimately pave the way to promotion at Wembley and these are memories forever etched in the Bantam brain.

A last-minute winner always feels pretty special – but a last-day win to decide your season takes it to another level.

From twice coming from behind under Chris Kamara in 1996 to staying in the elite by closing the Champions’ League door on Liverpool four years later, it seemed that City’s fortunes would go to the wire every time.

Morecambe will be hoping for a similar fairy-tale finish when the curtain comes down on this strange League Two campaign on Saturday.

Bolton’s unexpected slip-up against Exeter left the door ajar for Derek Adams and his unfancied Shrimps side to steal in for a remarkable promotion.

Morecambe have never reached the third tier, taking a six-goal thumping from Dagenham in a previous play-off attempt, but are now only one point off third.

The nerves will be jangling knowing that the prize is so close. If they better Bolton’s result at Crawley, the club with one of the smallest budgets in the entire EFL pyramid could be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland and Ipswich next season.

For City, the role of potential party-poopers will be an all-too-familiar one.

Because since Paul Jewell’s Premier League heroes defied the odds against Liverpool 21 years ago, the Bantams have personally never had anything resting on the season’s final 90 minutes.

Play-offs have already been secured with a game to spare; relegation sadly confirmed with no prospect of last-gasp survival. The only meaningful finales have involved their opponents.

That has been the way since waving goodbye to the top flight in 2001 with a dour goalless stalemate between two relegated teams at Coventry.

City’s demise had also been confirmed well before the final day in 2004, 2007 and 2019.

A Sunday lunchtime defeat at Millwall under Bryan Robson in the first of those was completely overshadowed by the threat of financial oblivion in the second administration.

Three years later, a 2-2 Valley Parade draw against the same opponents will only be remembered by two-goal Xavier Barrau. City, under the caretaker player-managership of Wetherall, had gone down with a whimper at Chesterfield the previous week.

And the last relegation in 2019 was signed and sealed two weeks before Gary Bowyer’s Bantams drew 0-0 with Wimbledon – a result that completed the great escape for the visitors, who had been 10 points adrift of safety in the March.

Their post-match celebrations on the Valley Parade pitch angered Bowyer but they are scenes that have been repeated down the years – if always at the away end.

In 2003, Svetoslav Todorov’s 10-minute hat-trick for white-booted Portsmouth ensured he took the golden boot alongside their Championship-winning crown – and guaranteed the party was in full swing for the travelling army.

Nine years later, Swindon had already clinched the League Two title before a goalless ending at the Bantams. But that did not stop Paolo Di Canio being thrown in the air by his players in front of an ecstatic Bradford End.

City have not always settled for the bridesmaid role – in 2014, a comeback win with two late goals at Tranmere confirmed the home side’s relegation, although results elsewhere did render the Prenton Park outcome meaningless.

The Bantams were also unbeaten when signing off before the three play-off campaigns during that four-year span.

Phil Parkinson put his 2013 side in cottonwool by making multiple changes for a dead rubber against Cheltenham. Andrew Davies, one of the few regulars given a run-out, threw a spanner in the works by getting himself sent off to miss the semi-final opener.

Three seasons on, Parkinson’s men had done the job on the penultimate weekend at Southend. City still finished on a high by beating Chesterfield for a seventh successive home win.

Twelve months later, Stuart McCall’s team had a play-off place wrapped up so he made nine changes for a 1-1 draw at Rochdale.

A couple of months ago, it looked as if City might be going all the way in their pursuit of a top-seven finish.

But with those hopes dashed during a wretched run-in, the best they can hope for this weekend is to ruin Morecambe's big day.