Bradford City 0

Southampton 1

Bradford City seem set for another tough battle for Premiership survival after slipping to the bottom of the table for the first time.

League positions mean little at this early stage of the season and only three points separate 11 teams in the lower half of the table, but to see City in last place after their fourth defeat in seven matches represents a psychological blow to their supporters.

Never in the darkest days of last season's difficult campaign were they actually on the foot of the table, although it is worth noting that they have exactly the same number of points now (five) as they had from the first seven matches last season.

After installing a new management team following the departure of Paul Jewell to Sheffield Wednesday and making six quality signings in a hectic summer, hopes were high for a successful season following their much admired battle for survival in their first Premiership campaign.

We are still only five weeks into the new season, but Southampton gave a warning if one was needed that the going will just as tough, if not tougher, this time around.

After surviving the stiffest start of any Premiership club with matches against top sides Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, City no doubt looked upon a visit from the Saints as a winnable match.

But Glenn Hoddle's side had other ideas as they went in front with a fortunate goal after 28 minutes and then set out their stall to stifle City with a five-man midfield as they battled and scrapped for their third league and cup win in eight days to reach a heady eighth place in the table.

The ominous problem for City is their glaring shortage of goals. They have now failed to score in five of their seven matches and a total of three goals just isn't good enough..

Last season they only scored 38 goals from as many Premiership matches, and clearly the problem is no nearer a solution given their current output.

Few doubt that new signings Ashley Ward and Benito Carbone are quality players, but they are not scoring the goals City need, despite having a reasonable number of chances created for them.

In particular, the pressure is on Italian striker Carbone to provide a solution to the team's goal-scoring problems.

His capture surprised the football world. It was a bold and highly criticised move, but he has only managed one goal so far.

No-one who has seen him play can question his commitment or his work-rate, but most people will judge him by the number of goals he scores. So far he has missed too many chances.

Ward, signed from Blackburn Rovers for £1.5 million, has yet to score despite his willingness to shoot at virtually every opportunity.

He had arguably City's best scoring effort in the 75th minute, but his superb right-foot shot was well saved by the diving Paul Jones - one of the few direct shots the goalkeeper had to save. Manager Chris Hutchings takes comfort from the fact City are creating chances, but shares the fans' disappointment that most of them are not being converted, although he is also sympathetic towards Carbone.

He said: "We have had chances in every game. Most of them have fallen to Beni and he is disappointed he has not taken them.

"He has had good chances in every game. We brought him here to create something and score goals. He has settled in well. It is just a couple of goals he is missing.

"I am happy with my strikers Dean Windass, Carbone and Ashley Ward, while Dean Saunders should be fit in two or three weeks which will give us another option."

City began brightly, creating four chances in the first eight minutes, the best of them for Carbone who scuffed his shot wide after a neat through pass from Lee Sharpe.

"He took the ball too early," said Hutchings. "He realised afterwards he could have taken the ball closer and he is disappointed at that."

A goal at that early stage could have changed the game, but City paid the price for those misses when Southampton began to come into the game as an attacking force.

Even when then they scored what proved to be the winner it was a messy goal in keeping with a match described by Match of the Day summariser Mark Lawrenson as "the worst game I have ever seen in the Premiership."

Right back Gunnar Halle managed to get in front of Moroccan international Hassan Kachloul as he tried to clear Jo Tessem's right-wing cross, but could only play it towards goal. Then when Matt Clarke scooped the ball back into play, TV replays showed the ball hit Halle and bounced into the net, although most people credited Kachloul with the goal.

Hutchings complained that City had stood off Southampton in the first half and let them play, but they showed more urgency after the interval when they virtually camped in the visitors' half as they went in search of an equaliser.

No-one could complain about effort or spirit, but too often they lacked the guile to open up a Saints defence in which former City defender Dean Richards was outstanding.

Ward's shot was their best effort, but Carbone saw his diving header fly wide seven minutes from the end and Windass had a ferocious shot charged down in stoppage time after a tricky dribble from (who else but) Carbone had set up the chance.

All in all, it was a bad day for City who also had their lowest Premiership crowd - 16,163.