Defender David Wetherall is convinced that Bradford City have good things to take from their heartbreaking 5-4 defeat at West Ham to help them in their Premiership survival battle.

Rarely have the City players looked so distraught as they trudged off the field after they had let victory slip from their grasp.

As the inquest continues as to how City slid to defeat after taking a 4-2 lead early in the second half, Wetherall preferred to look ahead to City's next match against Aston Villa at Valley Parade a week on Saturday.

He said: "In these circumstances you want the next game to come as soon as possible, but in the two weeks before we play Aston Villa we have got to take positive things out of the last three games.

"Before the West Ham game we had beaten Watford and Arsenal at home and there are lots of positive factors to take from those matches in the run-in to the end of the season.

"We have shown in the last three matches we are capable of getting the results we need to survive and if we continue to play like that we will do.

"No one should forget we matched West Ham for long periods, but I didn't think we had the game won at 4-2 because West Ham have so many quality players in their side.

"Of course, we would have settled for 4-2 with 35 minutes to go. At that stage we had put ourselves into a great position, but we never closed the game down.

"It became very stretched and very open and that obviously suited West Ham who have got some great individuals like Di Canio, Joe Cole and Trevor Sinclair in their team."

It was a bitter-sweet afternoon for winger Jamie Lawrence, the centre of attention with his striking red hairdo.

Lawrence scored his first goals of the season in a four-minute spell early in the second half to put City 4-2 up. However, casting aside personal ambition, he said: "I would rather I had not scored and we had won the match.

"I thought the penalty which brought them back into the game at 4-3 was a bit dubious. From then on, it was always going to be hard, but I thought we could hang on.

"To score four goals and lose is very disappointing. I thought we were unlucky and deserved at least a point. We were down after the match, but we can't afford to be that way for too long."

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