Swindon 0, City 0

Perhaps beneath the bluster and fluster there will be some grudging respect.

The Italians brought the art of defence to football with the famed catenaccio system.

So once the disappointment at missing out on a fourth straight win recedes, Paolo Di Canio will acknowledge a job well done by the Bantams.

Nobody had given the visitors a prayer on Saturday. According to Phil Parkinson, they were seen as “lambs to the slaughter” with their rotten away record against a side brimming with confidence and form.

Throw in another early bath for the luckless Andrew Davies and bookies will have stopped taking bets on such a home banker.

But, as they had done against Torquay when Davies was first red-carded, the ten men seemed to grow in stature. They fought the mounting odds with a tenacity that stifled and frustrated their hosts.

The team who had conceded in every away game blanked the one who always scored at home. Helenio Herrera, the Godfather of the catenaccio – or door bolt – plan with Inter Milan would have been proud.

Swindon kept hammering away at City’s back door but, for all the pressure, rarely caught a glimpse of light.

Their closest chance was virtually the last one as substitute Cristian Montano’s cross-shot zipped a foot or so past the far post at the end of normal time. To have been opened up at that stage would have been heart-breaking for a City side that had given their all protecting the goal.

Marcel Seip, one of those defensive heavyweights, said: “It feels like a win. They put everyone in the box and there were loads of crosses coming in but we defended very well as a team.

“We thought we could nick the three points at half-time but it was a case of hanging in there when we went down to ten. We had to adapt and we all worked so hard.”

A back four that has been questioned on several occasions this season could not be faulted. Bodies were thrown in the way of everything – Seip, Luke Oliver, Luke O’Brien and substitute Liam Moore all took at least one for the team.

Ironically, Davies had stood out above the rest. He had not put a foot wrong until his mistimed clip on Jake Jervis brought the harshest of punishments from referee Oliver Langford.

Without descending into yet more official-bashing, on first glance it looked worthy of a yellow card and nothing more.

Davies was caught out by a deflection as he came across to cover O’Brien just inside City territory. The left back’s slight touch changed the direction of the ball and Davies, already committed to the tackle, could not check himself as he caught the on-loan Birmingham man.

The totting-up procedure means he will now miss four games for a second red.

City were toying over an appeal and you could argue they have nothing to lose other than the fee. If the FA rule it “frivolous” and tack another game on, there’s little difference given the length of the defender’s absence anyway.

But the DVD, which Phil Parkinson watched on the coach home, offered an inconclusive view. If the freeze frame isn’t clear, then it’s hard to see an independent panel overturning the referee’s ruling.

Parkinson argued once again that the suspension is excessive for the foul and feels tackling is being driven out of the game.

He said: “I thought the ref did all right. The Swindon players went to ground too easily to try and con him a little bit.

“But referees are so quick to get the red card out these days. Twenty years ago it was more of a warzone out there but players are honest in their challenges now.

“Is it a sending off? Not for me. Referees are given these directives and it’s taking tackling out of it. If people are getting sent off like that for one late challenge, then the bans can’t be as much.”

City had been very much in the contest up to that point. Matt Duke had made only one save to tip over a wind-assisted free-kick by Swindon skipper Paul Caddis.

Parkinson had gone with two up front, accommodating the return of Davies by moving Seip to right back to end Moore’s ever-present run. Craig Fagan partnered James Hanson and, for an early spell, the visitors tested their hosts without getting close enough to keeper Wes Foderingham.

Their one, probably only, opportunity came courtesy of Foderingham’s daft decision to pick up Aden Flint’s backpass after four minutes. But with the whole Swindon team massed on the goalline, Michael Flynn’s shot cannoned off the advancing Matt Ritchie.

Right winger Ritchie has given City trouble before in Notts County colours and he carried the chief threat from an otherwise listless home attack.

Once Davies departed, Swindon concentrated all their efforts on supplying Ritchie and the impressive Caddis down that flank.

Duke saved well with his legs from Caddis after the right back had tricked his way past O’Brien and Mehdi Kerrouche summed up his disinterested afternoon by scooping a free header wide during a rare dip in City’s defensive diligence.

As Swindon’s temperature rose, Caddis gave Jonathan Smith an earful for shooting wildly over when the skipper was standing on his own. And Di Canio had an animated discussion with Steve Parkin as the City bench made their point about the number of free-kicks going against them.

But City had done their job to get the reward that Parkinson and his assistant, if not many others, had anticipated.

Parkinson said: “Everyone wrote Bradford off coming here but Steve and I didn’t feel that. We told the team that if we play with commitment and discipline, we’ll get a result.

“After being unlucky on Tuesday, I didn’t want another hard-luck story even after the sending-off.

“We were down to ten men away from home and it’s very tough. But the lads pushed themselves and there were some magnificent performances.”

Attendance: 7,701