FOOTBALL is a results-based business, and ultimately the losses that racked up for Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars in the final two months of the season led to their departure yesterday.
It was a rollercoaster ride under the young bosses, with some massive highs, but ultimately some crushing lows as the League Two play-off dream slipped away in April.
But what were the defining results of the brief Trueman and Sellars era?
CITY 1 CAMBRIDGE 0 (December 19)
City hadn't won a league game since November 3, when they breezed to a 3-0 victory over rock-bottom Southend.
That, coupled with a crushing 7-0 win over National League South side Tonbridge Angels in the FA Cup four days later, meant there were faint hopes of a City revival under Stuart McCall.
But eight winless games later, and McCall was gone, and the Trueman and Sellars reign began with a 1-1 draw at Crawley.
A win was what City were craving though, and they got it in a tense clash at home to Cambridge.
The Bantams played well, and bounced back from the disappointment of a Paudie O'Connor effort being ruled out for offside to score with a spectacular Harry Pritchard half-volley from outside the box.
Callum Cooke hit the post after the break, but a nervy City were clinging on at the end, and were indebted to a stunning Richard O'Donnell save from Joe Ironside to grab them that vital victory to go four points clear of the drop zone.
The Trueman and Sellars era was up and running.
CAMBRIDGE 0 CITY 0 (January 23)
City had a great end to December under Trueman and Sellars, but then were forced to go three and a half weeks without a game.
A clash with Morecambe was called off due to Covid within the Shrimps' camp, while snow and ice put paid to games with Scunthorpe and Crawley.
The challenge was to see if City could retain that momentum they had built up, with Cambridge now top of the league after a sensational run of form.
But City more than held their own, and debutant Danny Rowe made some statement when his powerful early effort forced the Cambridge keeper off injured.
With Sam Hornby at this point a fixture in goal due to O'Donnell's thigh injury, he made three good saves from the prolific Paul Mullin, who ended the season with a phenomenal 32 league goals.
But City came back into it, and with Rowe forcing a good save from the sub keeper, then Gareth Evans seeing his shot somehow come back off both posts, the visitors could count themselves unlucky not to take all three points.
The momentum was clearly still there, as City began to embark on a sensational run of form.
CHELTENHAM 0 CITY 2 (February 20)
Cheltenham won six of their seven games between February 9 and March 6, but they came unstuck at home to City in the middle of that incredible run.
This was arguably the best result of the Trueman and Sellars era, one of five wins in a row.
Cheltenham, who were in the top three at the time and went on to become champions, went 1-0 down to an early Andy Cook goal, as he headed in a Callum Cooke corner.
Though the hosts went on to dominate the rest of the half, Hornby went relatively untested.
And the Bantams turned it up a notch after the break, as Cook latched on to a ball stabbed over the top from Cooke and rounded the keeper to tap into an empty net.
Elliot Watt and Cooke both went close late on too, as City showed they could mix it with the very best.
NEWPORT 2 CITY 1 (March 9)
Arguably the most vital result of the Trueman and Sellars era.
With Cook putting City 1-0 up just after the break after making the most of a weak backpass, the visitors looked on course to move three points off the play-offs with games in hand.
But a controversial free-kick was awarded with 15 minutes to go, and the Welsh side equalised through ex-Bantam Matty Dolan.
Worse was to come though, with a 96th minute handball awarded against Sutton, and Dolan converting the resulting spot-kick.
With the influential Callum Cooke picking up a six-week injury in the warm-up too, could City bounce back from the double blow?
CARLISLE 3 CITY 1 (March 13)
City do not tend to do well in Cumbria and this game was no exception.
A poor performance showed the defeat four days earlier was more than just a blip.
Hornby struggled under the pressure of Carlisle's set pieces, which led to his subsequent dropping for O'Donnell, but the whole team were well below par, as the hosts snapped their long winless run with ease.
Gareth Evans scored a late consolation, but City needed to bounce back and fast.
HARROGATE 2 CITY 1 (April 17)
City did recover to some extent, with three wins in a fortnight, including a fine 4-1 triumph over Forest Green on Good Friday, but then they went on a season-killing run of five defeats in a row.
Arguably the most devastating of those was the last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Yorkshire neighbours Harrogate, who were a Northern Premier League Division One side when City were in the top-flight 20 years ago.
City made a fast start and could have scored through Cook, Finn Cousin-Dawson and Clayton Donaldson, before Jack Muldoon put the hosts in front.
Surviving a scare when Harrogate hit the bar, the visitors levelled when Cook stroked the ball into the bottom corner from Ollie Crankshaw's pass with 72 minutes gone.
But a heartbreaking 89th minute winner from Josh McPake left them four points off the play-offs, but also down in 13th with a number of teams in their way.
That defeat arguably crushed City's spirit more than any other, and they, Trueman and Sellars would not win again all season.
