Bradford City moved into the automatic promotion places in League Two at the expense of Exeter City with a 2-0 victory.
Exeter looked the brighter early on but a Pierce Sweeney own goal and James Vaughan’s fifth of the season put them in control at the break.
The second half saw three dismissals as the visitors’ Jake Taylor and Tom Parkes were shown straight red cards and Callum Cooke picked up two yellows for the Bantams, but none of those incidents could prevent the hosts from holding on to the win to move up to second in the table.
Story of the game
Bradford came close to the opening goal early on as Harry Pritchard, making his return from a back injury, found Vaughan with a cross but the striker’s volley hit the near post.
Other than that, Exeter looked the better side in the first half hour. They looked sharper in midfield and found space out wide but the hosts’ defence dealt with everything that was thrown their way.
Instead it was the Bantams who broke the deadlock. Adam Henley whipped in a brilliant delivery from the right touchline and QPR loanee Aramide Oteh was on hand to bundle in with the help of the pressuring defender Sweeney.
Archie Collins had gone the closest to a Grecians goal beforehand with a strike from distance going just over, and that remained their best threat as another strike shortly after the opener took a wicked deflection but just cleared the bar.
Ryan Bowman couldn’t head in the resulting corner and Lee Martin skied a half-chance, allowing Bradford to double their lead in injury-time. Oteh burst in behind and felt he was fouled by Aaron Martin, but it mattered not as Vaughan tapped in his fifth goal of the season past the onrushing Jonny Maxted.
Exeter had some threat at the start of the second half with full-backs Craig Woodman and Sweeney going closest to scoring, but any hopes of a comeback looked to have been diminished just past the hour mark when captain Taylor slid into a late, reckless challenge on Callum Wood which earned a straight red card.
Remarkably, it was only a minute later though, as Cooke was shown a second yellow for a foul on ex-Bradford man Nicky Law. Bradford fared just as well at repelling any pressure at 10-a-side though with Martin’s high header the closest they got.
The majority of the 14,000-strong crowd knew they would have a win to celebrate when Exeter were reduced to nine men with eight minutes to go, with Parkes given his marching orders for pulling down substitute Dylan Connolly when he was the last man.
Takeaways from the game
Bantams defence on top
Bradford hadn’t kept a clean sheet in eight games heading into this clash, but their defence looked largely assured to keep out an Exeter side which had put four past local rivals Plymouth Argyle last time out.
Centre-backs Ben Richards-Everton and Anthony O’Connor had plenty to deal with but they handled the visitors’ aerial bombardment well, firstly in the opening half hour to keep them in the game and then again in the second half to deny them a way back in.
In contrast, the Grecians will be disappointed with both of the goals that they conceded as concentration twice cost them dearly before losing their discipline somewhat in the second half.
Red cards could prove costly
Exeter looked likely to be heading for defeat regardless of the two dismissals, but the consequent three-match bans for both Taylor, an ever-present so far this season, and Parkes, will cause further frustration.
Neither red could be disputed, with the skipper losing his head when he slid needlessly on Wood and Parkes silly to bring down Connolly as the last man late in the game.
Perhaps thankfully, their next two games are in cup competitions. The early League Two leaders have now lost three of their last four games, although there should be no great cause for panic just yet.