Brentford 2 Bradford City 1

It is easy to get a drink at Brentford.

With a pub on every corner of the ground, you do not have to look far to drown your sorrows.

Colin Todd must have felt like diving into all four boozers at the final whistle. And nobody would have blamed him.

Because somehow City had walked away empty-handed from a game that should have been in their pocket.

So instead of contemplating the heady life of second spot, they tumbled to a first defeat of the season since the opening day.

That loss at Nottingham Forest was harsh, this one just plain annoying.

Admittedly it was a fine goal that settled matters and Jo Kuffour won't hit a sweeter overhead kick all year. But that would not have made it any more palatable as the team bus chugged back up the M1.

The consolation for the gaffer would be the first-half performance, which was as dominant as anything City have produced up to now.

For 45 minutes, this was Crewe mark two as the home side barely got a kick.

Opting to take first advantage of the strong wind blowing from one end of the pitch to the other, the Bantams were quickly into their stride.

Every movement seemed to carry a threat - even Donovan Ricketts had opposite number Stuart Nelson backpedalling with his gust-assisted clearances.

City quickly assumed a stranglehold in midfield, where Steve Schumacher and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson looked full of energy and purpose. And up front, Dean Windass oozed menace.

It only took 14 minutes for City to turn possession into an opening goal with a very familiar free-kick routine.

We've seen the Windass "dying duck" 100 times where he hobbles up from a challenge clutching his back - only to then burst unhindered to receive the pass at the far post. But Brentford, like so many others, had somehow let it slip beneath their scouting radar.

So they were oblivious to the danger when the striker suddenly peeled away to meet Bridge-Wilkinson's free-kick with a volley into a crowd of players. Nathan Doyle kept the ball alive amid the panic, ferrying it back for David Graham to lob goalwards.

The Brentford keeper's lack of inches - it was more a case of half-Nelson - meant he could only parry it on to the bar and Mark Bower was waiting virtually on the line to force home the rebound for his second goal of the season.

When Windass had Nelson scrambling with a quick free-kick moments later, it seemed that a second would be inevitable.

Brentford looked a shadow of the Martin Allen-drilled gladiators of before; nervy at the back and soft-centred in the middle. Half-time - and a respite from playing into the wind - could not come quick enough.

But City could not kill them off. For all the bright passing and running off the ball, the moves always floundered just when it mattered.

The unpredictable Jermaine Johnson was the biggest culprit. Full of pace and power surging towards the penalty area, his crosses were inevitably gobbled up by the first defender to leave Windass and Graham frustrated on-lookers in the goalmouth.

Johnson almost got it right when he cut in on his left foot, getting caught by Adam Griffiths as he shot. Nelson could only parry across goal and Windass claimed he was blocked off in the chase for the loose ball.

It was the first of two penalty shouts that did not go the striker's way, though he could have few complaints about the second after tumbling theatrically.

City continued to press and Schumacher just couldn't quite thread a pass through to the breaking Lee Holmes. Graham flashed one wide from 25 yards but that decisive second goal remained elusive.

Brentford stirred themselves in the closing minutes of the half to force three corners and Ricketts made his first save from Calum Willock.

But City were still in command as the teams trooped off, although bracing themselves to play into a wind which, on the evidence of the trees straining behind the open away terrace, was picking up strength as the game wore on.

Todd used the half-time break to stress the need to keep passing and looking to go forward even without the support of the elements. Opposite number Leroy Rosenior spent the same period reconstructing his line-up.

Rosenior made a double substitution but it was the tactical reshuffle that proved crucial as skipper Kevin O'Connor was switched from right back to beef up midfield. Suddenly Schumacher and Bridge-Wilkinson had some genuine competition.

Brentford immediately looked brighter, with Kuffour shooting over and Ricketts getting everything behind an O'Connor free-kick. Then came City's first real scare as Kuffour glanced Paul Brooker's cross against the far post with the keeper rooted to the spot.

Lifted by such an improved effort, the Griffin Park crowd came to life for the first time. The tide was turning and City were being pushed further and further back.

Graham was unable to keep his shot down after clever play from Holmes in one rare break and Bridge-Wilkinson put a free-kick straight down Nelson's throat but the red and white shirts continued to push forward in increasing numbers.

The first corner of the half after 74 minutes brought the inevitable equaliser. The scorer was equally inevitable, the influential O'Connor allowed a free header from Brooker's kick after his marker Doyle got blocked off.

City's growing uncertainty was evident when Bridge-Wilkinson was caught ball-watching in his own half. Then Alan Rogers, a solid performer at left back in his first league start, went down with cramp.

The former Forest man was off the pitch getting treatment when Brentford grabbed the lead from another corner. Bower furiously claimed that it should have been a goal kick and questions could be asked about how O'Connor won the near-post flick-on - but City could not argue with Kuffour's emphatic effort that ripped past Ricketts from ten yards.

Brentford were nearly in for a third but the Jamaican pulled off a stunning save to deny the elusive Kuffour after David Wetherall was undone by a backheel.

City, having looked so assured for all three points, were now scrambling around for one.

And Bower went agonisingly close to achieving that in stoppage time from a throw-in. The defender seemed surprised that the ball had come all the way through to him in the six-yard box and his header was too soft to beat a relieved Nelson.

"I think he forgot which end he was at," smiled Todd later. "It was a cushioned header back to the goalkeeper."

The City boss may have wondered what game he was at. Because this was a defeat that nobody had seen coming.