BRAD Halliday was praised for setting the City benchmark after scoring the winner in his 100th game for the club.

Graham Alexander felt it was a fitting moment for the defender to notch his third goal of the season and earn the 1-0 victory over Gillingham at Valley Parade this afternoon.

“The consistency we’re looking for is epitomised in Brad,” said the Bantams boss. “He’s always a seven out of 10 for us and never drops that level.

“He deserves that winner because he’s been superb for us. To play 100 games in two years is the sort of resilience we’re looking for from our team, never mind just one individual.”

City made it two wins and a draw since last month’s losing slump that killed off their hopes of making a late play-off push.

Alexander, who made three changes from Monday’s draw at Grimsby, praised the way City have bounced back from that recent torrid run.

“We know where we were before these three games. We were in a difficult moment but I thought the players have shown exceptional strength of character to get seven points from nine.

“We would certainly have taken that. It was a difficult game but I thought the players did all the professional things well and then we had the quality to split it in our favour.

“I thought there were some really strong performances. There’s still a lot of inexperience, in terms of playing games, but the players understood how to manage the threats they faced.

“I don’t think they had a shot on target second half and that’s great credit to the players. We need to build on from that.”

Sam Walker came to City’s rescue before Halliday’s goal with a couple of superb saves. Daniel Oyegoke also cleared off the line.

Alexander added: “Everyone is congratulating Brad on the goal but he’s talking about the clean sheets with Sam and Dan. That’s a good sign.

“Sam knows there were no shots on target second half because of the work that goes on in front of him.

“But we know if they do breach that, then they’ve got a very good goalkeeper to beat as well. They were two important saves for us.

“Gillingham have got a long throw on either side and have got a massive target up front. Then they bring on another massive target who’s even bigger.

“We gave away a few cheap free-kicks and throw-ins first half. I didn’t think we did that second half and defended more intelligently against the threats they had.

“Instead of trying to compete with them physically, we used our positions better. If we’d have gone toe-to-toe with a couple of those boys, I don’t think we’d have won the better.

“Fair plays to the lads who did that. They worked out how to play against that threat.”