City 2, Fleetwood 2

ANYONE in City's travelling party who viewed the getaway to Portugal as an FA Cup 'jolly' will be in for a nasty shock.

The events from 4.47pm on Saturday onwards ensured a definite switch in mood when the squad regrouped at the training ground about 12 hours later.

It should have been three days of bonding, to relax around the practice sessions and generally clear heads on the back of a three-point return to league matters.

But Fleetwood's unlikely late, late fightback ensured that plenty of straight-talking and looking in the mirror has been added to the agenda between now and their return on Wednesday afternoon.

It is difficult to know what to say differently about another lead that was thrown away; another winning position wasted; another two points tipped down the drain.

For a tenth time this season, the Bantams scored first in a game which they did not win. It was the sixth occasion they had frittered away a half-time advantage.

Like the week before at Notts County, this was a win they had in the palm of their hand. Only this felt ten times worse.

There was a poisonous air about Valley Parade at the final whistle as boos rang out. It was a powerful reaction but one borne out of the utter frustration at seeing one too many opportunities missed.

City had been two up at home for the first time in the league since early October, when Aaron Mclean scored his last goal for the club against Crewe.

Fleetwood had shown next to nothing in response. So how could fortunes change so dramatically?

Substitutes Andy Halliday, Matty Dolan and Francois Zoko got it in the neck from their boss for a "poor" contribution. City's momentum certainly faltered when the changes were made.

Phil Parkinson held his hand up for that mistake and raised the point that the efforts – or lack of – from those coming off the bench too often this season had been a cause for concern raised in conversation with his coaching staff.

His post-match dig about contracts being won or lost on the final ten games was no idle threat.

It is not only the three Saturday subs whose current deals are up in the summer, either here or elsewhere. Five of the starting line-up will need to renegotiate once this season is over.

Those who had done their jobs for 80 minutes or so should not be completely absolved of blame. It is no witch hunt purely aimed at the replacements.

But there had been no inkling of what was to follow as City showed few signs of any FA Cup hangover from the Reading defeat.

Parkinson dismissed fatigue as any excuse for their late collapse. After all, his players had been given an extra day off in the week while Fleetwood played Coventry on the Tuesday night.

Encouraged to get the ball to play-makers Billy Clarke and Mark Yeates at every opportunity, they had played the lion's share of the decent stuff on a pitch that was still a minefield for close control even after a fortnight's inaction.

Clarke, in particular, pulled all the strings and not surprisingly had a hand in both City goals.

Rory McArdle had already gone close when Clarke set up the breakthrough after 11 minutes. He wrong-footed Stewart Murdoch and when keeper Chris Maxwell could only parry his low cross, there was Jon Stead to take his Bantams goal tally into double figures.

The crowd and team lifted, City set about trying to build on their lead. Maxwell tipped over a header from Chris Routis, who again competed enthusiastically in his new-found right midfield berth, and Clarke went close from 20 yards.

Fleetwood's threat was sporadic at best. The back four was again well marshalled by Gary MacKenzie, who blocked pretty much everything in his direction.

A half-time advantage, as we have discovered too often this season, can mean little. Memories of failing to finish off Notts County were still very fresh. So City's second goal six minutes after the restart was greeted with an even grander reaction.

It was a well-worked effort, with Clarke again at the hub. Stead brought an awkward ball under control, Clarke swept it wide left and Hanson lunged past two red shirts to deliver the cross.

Routis gambled at the far post and it paid off with his first score at Valley Parade, which he celebrated with an impromptu jig in front of the Kop.

That should have been game over; even more so when Maxwell thwarted Clarke's burst through and Hanson looped the rebound header straight into the relieved keeper's arms.

"He should have scored," said his unsympathetic manager afterwards.

But there was no hint of the significance of failing to put that away. When Parkinson started to switch personnel, nobody harboured any immediate fears of a sudden Fleetwood recovery.

City v Fleetwood match pictures

The momentum was slowly shifting, however. MacKenzie detected it at the back as team-mates "stopped doing what they'd been doing". Some clearly thought the game was won.

They should have been jolted from that complacency in the 86th minute when Ashley Hunter and Tyler Forbes combined on Fleetwood's right and Jamie Proctor buried the header.

City were getting inadvertently pushed deeper. Parkinson maintained later that he had kept two up top but Hanson had come back to defend a corner and was unable to get out as Fleetwood's attacking belief grew.

And so we came to the second of the five added minutes as Conor McLaughlin pumped a hopeful free-kick deep into City territory.

On another day, referee Stephen Martin might have blown for Proctor's challenge on Halliday but that did not excuse the penalty-box pinball that followed.

City failed to clear as Steve Schumacher's shot cannoned off Stephen Darby and the loose ball fell for centre half Nathan Pond to squeeze home his first goal in 14 months.

The mood around the place turned toxic – even more so when Zoko fluffed a glorious chance to nick it from the final kick.

A covering defender threw himself across the striker's vision but still, he had to hit the target with Maxwell caught out of position.

Zoko, whose only goal had clinched City's solitary win in the nine games since beating Leyton Orient, screwed it wide and the derision followed.

"He's got to score," repeated an angry Parkinson. "You can't have that chance and not at least make the goalie work.

"Zokes is getting fitter and played well at Notts County. He had a bit of a groin strain so I decided not to start him but when you get those moments, you've got to take them."

With ten games left to revive any play-off intentions, such golden opportunities are starting to run out.

Attendance: 12,963