Impressive City broke their away duck with a notable scalp as Luke Oliver sunk Southend tonight.

The big centre half struck late but it was no more than Phil Parkinson's men deserved against a team who would have gone top with a win.

City began smartly and enjoyed plenty of the early play.

Michael Flynn forced an alert save from Luke Daniels, Ricky Ravenhill blazed over from Craig Fagan's cross and Fagan saw his well-struck volley blocked by defender Peter Gilbert.

Southend, considering their lofty position, carried little first-half threat as the Bantams did all the running. But once again they could not turn their control into a goal.

Nahki Wells headed wide straight from the restart before Andrew Davies threw himself in the way of Ryan Hall's strike.

City were asking the questions without being able to deliver that killer blow and James Hanson, who had a good game, whipped in an inviting cross which should have been converted.

Southend took an age to get going but started to up the tempo in the final half hour.

But City struck with two minutes left as Oliver forced the ball home after Davies had hoisted it into the danger zone.