Hat-trick hero Nahki Wells side-stepped the praise for the win that cemented City’s place in League Two again next season.

The first Bantams treble since 2008 eased them nine points clear of the drop zone with only three games to play.

Wells was in unstoppable mood as City beat Northampton 3-1 to end a run of six away defeats on the bounce.

But the modest Bermudian played down the personal plaudits and paid tribute to the team ethic behind the vital victory.

Wells said: “I just scored the goals. Without all the tackles and blocks, my goals wouldn’t have counted and we still would have lost.

“But I’m buzzing to score my first professional hat-trick in such a big game and to have hundreds of our fans screaming out my name made me very happy.”

Phil Parkinson had subbed Wells at half-time in the previous game and was delighted to see him come back all guns blazing against the Cobblers.

The City boss said: “Nahki was exhausted at Shrewsbury after running himself into the ground three days before against Southend. He’s still a young kid and his body is not hardened to professional football yet.

“But I thought he was great on Saturday. We knew we could exploit the (lack of) pace of their two centre halves and Nahki is perfect to do that because he is so quick.

“He’s scored 11 goals now. Look at the number of starts he’s had (17) and that’s a very good ratio.

“There are times when you get disappointed and frustrated with him but he’s a young player.

“But Nahki’s a very quick learner. He ticks a hell of a lot of boxes to be a very good player.”

Parkinson had organised a squad meeting ahead of the game to discuss what had gone wrong for City on their travels. He was fed up with explaining away a run of “unlucky” defeats.

“I just had that feeling that we only really started playing at half-time or when we conceded a goal,” he said.

“Every game there was a case for saying we should have got something. Supporters who followed us to places like Crewe and Plymouth would have seen a team who were in all the games but missed big chances.

“We sat down with the lads on Thursday and nearly every player spoke about commitment, intensity, desire and being positive from the first whistle on our travels.

“You could see a different approach at Northampton. It was almost as if they were saying ‘you’ve told us to be on the front foot from the start’ and that’s what we’ve done.

“Sometimes the difference can be just another five per cent, nothing major but enough to get you over the line, and that was a really tough, professional performance.”