Stand-in goalkeeper Mark Prudhoe was the hero as Bradford City defied
sixth-placed Birmingham.
Prudhoe, who was deputising for first-choice Gary Walsh whose father is
seriously ill, made a string of brilliant saves to keep out the Blues.
Birmingham had most of the play in the first-half and only fine work by
Prudhoe and some desperate defending by Eddie Youds and 18-year-old Andrew
O'Brien kept them out.
Twice, Prudhoe had to race out of his goal to save from striker Peter Ndlovu
and also dived full length to keep out fellow striker Dele Adebola's close-range
effort.
Adebola, a £1million signing from Crewe, was a constant threat to Bradford's
over-worked defence and several times went close to adding to the five goals he
has scored for Birmingham in his previous seven matches since he joined them.
Bradford's best first-half effort came in the 13th minute when Robert Steiner
created an opening for striking partner Robbie Blake, but Blake's right-foot
shot went wide of the far post as goalkeeper Ian Bennett came off his line to
narrow the angle.
Bradford, who used all three substitutes, had more of the play in the
second-half but rarely pierced a strong Birmingham defence, well marshalled by
skipper Steve Bruce and Birmingham continued to pose more genuine threat near
goal.
Teams:
Bradford: Prudhoe, Wilder, Jacobs, Ramage (Murray 73), Youds,
O'Brien, Lawrence, Pepper, Steiner, Blake (McGinlay 61),
Beagrie (Sepp 76).
Booked: O'Brien, Beagrie.
Birmingham: Bennett, Bass, Charlton, Bruce, Johnson, Marsden,
McCarthy, O'Connor, Adebola, Grainger (Hughes 80),
Ndlovu (Forster 73).
Subs Not Used: Ablett.
Att: 16,392
Ref: F G Stretton (Nottingham).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook