Bradford City suffered a 1-0 play-off defeat at Bolton. The decisive moment came on the hour, with Amario Cozier-Duberry scoring a delicious effort into the far corner.

What happened?

The match was a tense, tight arm wrestle between two teams who must be sick of the sight of each other. Bolton had bounced upfield from a wasted free-kick from Ibou Touray, and the ball was worked wide to Ibrahim Cissoko.

He crossed early from the left, looking for Ruben Rodrigues, but the ball shot under the midfielder's foot as he tried to take it into his stride running into the box. However, Bolton caught a break as it ran unhindered into the path of Cozier-Duberry.

Why it matters for Bradford City

The Bantams will feel they earned a huge chunk of luck when Cozier-Duberry's second attempt was denied by the woodwork. Sam Walker's look of relief was shared by his teammates and thousands of City fans near and far.

A second Bolton goal so soon after the first would have left the Bantams with a mountain to climb. As it is, the play-off dream remains alive even in defeat. Those small margins can make all the difference.

What comes next?

The sun had shone on those fans lucky enough to have snapped up a ticket in the reduced away allocation for the trip over the Pennines. Just 2,043 of a City persuasion were permitted into the Toughsheet Community Stadium. | Stat | Value | | --- | --- | | Last result | Burnley W 11-0 Bradford City (2024-12-01) | The league clash in November had seen over 5,000 roaring on the Bantams. But Bolton slashed that by more than half in a bid to have their own fans behind both goals. City live to fight another day – thanks in part to the fortuitous bounce of the ball. The place erupted as the night's first shot on target shattered the deadlock. Suddenly City's backs were pinned against the wall. Curtis Tilt looked to carry the ball out of defence, but his woeful square pass intended for Touray landed straight at the feet of Cozier-Duberry. The Brighton loan man was in again with only Sam Walker to beat. Again, he aimed for that far corner – but this time fortune favoured the Bantams as the woodwork diverted the ball back along the line and back out by the other post. City will stage a raucous part two of this semi-final collision at Valley Parade on Thursday. The City section was the only one swathed in light – that omen, possibly, that this tie may yet have a twist to come. They witnessed another tense, tight arm wrestle between two teams who must be sick of the sight of each other. Once more, there was very little separating them. At least, that's the hope we can all cling to between now and 8pm on Thursday. City had kept Bolton's dangerous attack at arm's length; crosses were cut out, shots blocked, interceptions made when things threatened to get hairy. Equally, they found the route to goal just as congested. The large chunk of unoccupied blue seats just rubbed it in for the many who couldn’t lay their hands on the golden ticket and had to instead watch the drama unfold from the pub, the front room or the beam-back at Valley Parade. “They’re here, they’re there, empty seats” mocked those up on high as they basked in the best of the early-evening weather when the rain relented. And so the Bantams will look to bounce back from this defeat and keep their play-off dream alive.