Bradford City 2, Huddersfield Town 3; Match Report, by Richard Sutcliffe at Valley Parade.

If Bradford City do fail in their bid to seal automatic promotion to the Premiership, then the name Nico Vaesen will figure highly in a list of reasons why Paul Jewell's men were condemned to the play-offs.

Back in November, the giant Belgian goalkeeper was the only man who stood between City and a resounding victory when they travelled to the McAlpine Stadium.

Vaesen produced a string of fine saves that afternoon to help Town earn an unlikely 2-1 victory, but at least City fans could have consoled themselves with thinking that Vaesen surely would not be able to match that performance in the return clash.

However when the West Yorkshire pair met again in a thrilling derby clash at Valley Parade, City were again left cursing Vaesen.

Not only did he pull off stunning saves from Lee Sharpe and Lee Mills in the first half, but the Town keeper also pulled off a fantastic reaction save to deny Dean Windass from the penalty spot with just 12 minutes remaining.

A goal at that stage to bring the scores level at 3-3 would have left Bantams firm favourites to grab all three points and leave themselves fully in control of their own destiny in the race for automatic promotion.

Instead, City are now relying on Stockport to pull off a shock victory at Portman Road tomorrow night if they are to cling on to second place with just three games remaining.

It could have been so different. The irony will not have been lost on Paul Jewell that his City side have picked up just one point from the last two games when their performances have been infinitely better than when they grabbed all nine points against Grimsby, Bury and Portsmouth.

City went ahead through Robbie Blake during an opening 20 minutes when their slick passing game pinned Town back in their own half. Mills and Sharpe were both denied by Vaesen during this spell as City rediscovered the sort of form which powered them up the league.

However some dreadful defending in a 14-minute spell during that first half undid all the impressive work City had put in.

Both Ashley Westwood and Darren Moore had afternoons they will want to forget against the lively strike-pairing of Marcus Stewart and Wayne Allison.

Stewart, in particular, pulled the City defence all over with his running off the ball and it is easy to see why he is so highly rated.

Having said that, a side desperate for a win simply cannot afford to defend as charitably as City did in that first half when but for a linesman's flag the half-time scoreline would have been 4-1.

Town boss Peter Jackson spent the first half urging his side to pour forward and put pressure on the shaky City back-line but all this changed with the dismissal of Steve Jenkins just before the break. The Town defender stupidly moved his head towards Peter Beagrie after the pair had argued and referee Mick Pierce had no hesitation in brandishing a red card.

This gave City, with Stuart McCall again the driving force, the impetus they needed after the break to pour forward - a tactic which very nearly paid off. Town seemed to target Beagrie with two men constantly shadowing him in the second half, but this only served to provide more room for Sharpe on the opposite flank.

And the on-loan winger took full advantage with some fine touches and inviting crosses causing panic in the Town defence.

Windass took full advantage of a 72nd minute cross from Sharpe when he arrived late in the box to power a header into the net.

Six minutes later another fine ball from Sharpe saw Gordon Watson's header blocked by Simon Baldry's hand to provide City with a penalty.

Unfortunately Windass' fierce drive was superbly saved by Vaesen and despite City laying siege to the Town goal in the closing stages, that vital third goal just would not come and it was the visiting fans who were celebrating when the final whistle was blown.

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