Bradford win delights Parkinson

Manager Phil Parkinson hailed a "tremendous performance" as Bradford leapfrogged play-off rivals Oldham with a 2-0 win.

The result leaves Bradford, who were fresh from a three-day break in Portugal, in 10th place, two points outside the play-off positions with a game in hand. Parkinson was highly critical of his players after they let a 2-0 lead slip at home to Fleetwood last Saturday and were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw. He said: "We were all hurting after last week - players and supporters - but we responded together as a football club and you could feel that all around the ground." The Bradford boss said the players had benefited from their short break in Portugal, adding: "We needed a change in scenery. "We have had so many games, churning out performances and losing a bit of detail in what we were doing. I just felt it was the right thing to do - to get away and hopefully we can continue to see the benefit of that. "Oldham are a good side and we gave them respect, but I think we had the better chances. "We lost defender Andrew Davies with a hamstring injury after only 17 minutes, but I thought Gary MacKenzie, who came on in his place, was magnificent." There was little to choose between two evenly matched sides until Clarke broke the deadlock after 71 minutes. Defender Rory McArdle flicked substitute Billy Knott's right-wing corner across the face of goal and MacKenzie and Jason Hanson combined to head the ball on for Clarke to add the finishing touch with a back heel from close range. Clarke then put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time with his 10th goal of the season - a low shot into the far corner from 15 yards after Jon Stead laid the ball into his path. Latics manager Dean Holden, whose team had won their previous two matches, said: "We probably had the better of the game in the first half and the two goals flattered them. "We have had had three big games in eight days. This is a difficult pitch to play on - it saps your legs - and they had more legs than us in the second half. But it was a sloppy back pass that led to their first goal and we ended up conceding a corner. "We had a lot of defending to do to cope with the way Bradford play. We know their biggest strength is to play in the air up to James Hanson and Jon Stead. They play to their strength and they do it very well and it is difficult defending against that for 90 minutes."