David Syers now knows what a cruel game football can be.

Everything the midfielder has touched has generally turned to gold in his first season as a pro.

But while 2011 may be still in its infancy, the new year has wasted no time in opening his eyes to the pitfalls of the profession.

Saturday’s deflating defeat against Barnet knocked the wind out of City’s sails after winning the previous two.

And there was also the case of THAT miss in the Bury game.

His fluffed chance from a couple of yards out got as much coverage as Omar Daley’s wonder winner. Syers suddenly found himself an unwitting cult hero on Sky Sports News and Soccer AM.

He laughed: “It’s funny but when you score, you don’t normally see the goal until about an hour and a half into the highlights.

“When you miss, it’s on the first reel. As soon as I got home that day, I walked in and there it was with the headline ‘did Bradford rue this miss?’ “It was a nice polarisation between Omar’s goal and my miss; the best and the worst in the same game.”

With six goals under his belt so far, not too much has gone awry for the former non-leaguer. In such a wildly inconsistent season, there is no other current contender for player of the year.

It’s unlikely that his moment of televised infamy will have any long-term impact on his fortunes.

Syers added: “If you get upset about things like that, then you won’t keep trying to get in those positions to score.

“It’s not going to dent my confidence or get me down. I’m not going to worry about things I can’t change.

“I made a snap decision to go with my left foot and if the ball had been two inches further on it would have gone in. Instead it hit my heel and went the other way.

“But if I’m going to get myself in positions to score then I’m going to miss a few. It happens to every player.

“I know that if I still keep getting into those areas then the goals are going to come.”

Syers could not come up with anything against Barnet as City blew the chance to move within a point of the play-offs.

Having lost his man in the build-up for the Bees equaliser, he then had a late shooting opportunity whipped off his toes by keeper Liam O’Brien.

Saturday’s setback was another example of the unpredictability of League Two this term.

Syers said: “There aren’t many results in this league you can predict. Every team can beat any other. A lot of people were saying it’s just Barnet at home and they are bottom of the league. But it just doesn’t work like that.

“You can’t let yourself slip at all. It’s unbelievable.

“You’ve got to earn the right to play well.

“We had a horrible performance at Cheltenham but then bounced straight back. You have to put it out of your mind and make sure you work even harder in the next game.”