Notts County manager Luke Williams came back on to the Meadow Lane pitch about an hour after full-time on Saturday to kick a football around with his young kids.

It was a lovely moment to witness, and he was all smiles then, but you can bet his team were on the end of a pretty angry team talk after the final whistle.

His side beat the Bantams 4-2 in the televised lunchtime kick-off, but they collapsed in the second half, having been four goals ahead at the break, and somehow nearly let the visitors back into the game.

After the game, Williams told the press pack: “The first half, as good as we were, we were equally as poor in the second at times.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the first half, and I felt that was us playing football how I want us to.

“The vision I have for the team is to play in that manner and I thought they were breathtaking at times.”

Graham Alexander had admitted to learning a lot from his then MK Dons side’s 1-1 draw with County in September.

When the question was rather snidely put to Williams that Alexander would have been better off analysing Notts’ comprehensive defeats to Mansfield and Wrexham at Meadow Lane this season instead, he defended the man in the opposing dugout.

Williams said: “Graham showed in the second half that he does know a lot about us.

“They made the game very difficult for us after the break, and in the end, though I think we were worthy of the win, I’d say only just.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Luke Williams was brutally honest after his side's game against Bradford City on Saturday.Luke Williams was brutally honest after his side's game against Bradford City on Saturday. (Image: PA.)

Williams was furious at his side’s second-half capitulation, saying: “The first action of the second half was ridiculous from us.

“We gave the ball away on the halfway line, Bradford counter-attacked, and it set the tone for the whole half.

“We were sloppy after that, we were missing intensity, the awareness wasn’t there anymore, people were having the ball pinched off them and that came from Bradford throwing everything they had at us.

“At that point, they couldn’t do anything but throw caution to the wind, but they caused us far too many problems for a team that were 4-0 down.

“We should have been able to cope with that better and we didn’t.”

Saturday’s game was the latest to follow an unwelcome pattern for County, and Williams said: “We’ve been here too many times, 2-0 up or 3-0 up at half-time, and we know we’ve deserved to be, because we’ve created great chances and played well.

“To fall off the edge of the cliff in that way is something we’re continuing to work on.

“I believe we still need a period of time to adapt to League Two level, because we still haven’t.

“It might look like we have, with the way we’re playing in a lot of first halves, but 45 minutes is not a game of football.

“We have to adapt to be able to play at a much better level for the full 90 minutes.”

Williams was also disappointed not to see his side build on their rampant finish to the first half.

He said: “The fans deserved to see those goals and that great play at the end of the first half from us.

“But as a bare minimum thereafter, it should have been us controlling the game.

“Maybe I could accept a non-eventful second half, but not it looking like a completely different team out there.

“I want the fans to see us at our best, and if they do see us at worst, it shouldn’t be like today, after we’d got into a really strong position.”