MARK Hughes refused to be too down despite City’s 3-0 defeat at leaders Leyton Orient this afternoon.

The Bantams suffered their first loss on the road since August as League Two’s pace-setters picked them apart in clinical fashion.

But Hughes did not publicly shoot down his team after the lunchtime setback.

“I’m not discouraged,” he said. “I don’t see that they are markedly better than ourselves.

“The scoreline would suggest something else but there is good talent within all the teams in the league.

“At the moment, the likes of Orient and Northampton are consistent in their level of performances and are able to see games through with good management and no little skill to convert chances they create. We’re struggling to do that.”

Hughes felt City should have cashed in during their bright start to the game. He also thought they were denied two penalties from referee Darren Drysdale in that spell.

“We needed to score during that period,” he said. “I’m afraid it’s the old adage that if you don’t take your chances when you’re on top, there’s a possibility the opposition will come back at you.

“We had some good opportunities and strikes on goal. We were guilty of snatching at things.

“We had a couple of appeals for penalties we thought were valid.

“Scott Banks is going through and gets a clear hand in his face to stop him running on to the ball. That’s a foul in any other area of the pitch.

“The second one, Tyreik (Wright) was past the guy and he’s taken him out. That’s a penalty as well.

“I don’t really want to concentrate on that because it’s not the reason we were beaten. But those things have an impact.”

Trailing 2-0 at the break, Hughes was unhappy with City’s second-half display as they never looked like fighting back.

“I felt the level of the game just dropped. It got bitty and messy.

“I quite enjoyed the first half even though we were 2-0 down. We made a mistake on the defensive line and they got in, then the lad’s produced a bit of quality and there’s not much you can do about that.

“I was disappointed with the scoreline at that point but felt our general play was good.

“But the second half never really got going. I just thought it was 45 minutes of mediocre play from both teams.

“The third goal was a shot from the edge of the box, ricochets a couple of times and ends up on the toe of the guy in the six-yard box. Those things go for you when you’re 2-0 up at home.”

Dion Pereira was not involved after falling ill during the week, although he did travel with the squad.