Peter Atherton ended a three-year wait for his first City goal and admitted: I'd forgotten how to celebrate.

Atherton, whose spell with the club has been ravaged by injury, hit the equaliser against Crystal Palace to spark the fightback.

City won 2-1 to leapfrog Walsall and move back into 19th spot, still ten points clear of the bottom three.

Atherton, who last netted for Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day 1999, said: "It's been a long time coming so I really enjoyed the goal. We were having a good spell at the time so it was an important stage to score and I think we deserved to go on and win.

"I can't remember the last time I scored. Obviously it wasn't for Bradford so it's nice to finally get off the mark.

"I didn't really know what to do when the ball went in. I was going to take my shirt off but then the lads jumped on me and I couldn't move, which was probably a good thing for the fans."

Teenager Simon Francis followed up with his first senior goal to move City up to 42 points, eight short of the survival target set by boss Nicky Law.

City will have a free Saturday on April 12 because scheduled opponents Sheffield United are in FA Cup semi-final action.