City completely dominated possession and territory at Fleetwood in the second half this afternoon, but paid for a woeful opening 20 minutes with a frustrating 1-0 defeat.

Ronan Coughlan’s early penalty, after Matty Virtue had bought a cheap foul off Andy Cook following a corner was enough to separate the two sides.

And Bantams manager Graham Alexander was still visibly frustrated with that poor start when he spoke to the T&A at full time.

Asked if he felt City were unlucky not to come away with a point, he said: “This is what happens if you shoot yourself in the foot and give up a cheap goal early on away from home.

“If you don’t compete at the level required, one goal is enough sometimes, and that was the case here.

“We didn’t have the competitive level required in the first half and we couldn’t find that final bit of quality we needed to score in the second half to take advantage of our domination.

“That can happen when you’re a goal down, the opposition find an extra determination to defend and block up spaces.

“Little bits and pieces went against us in other ways, but we can’t all hide away from the fact that first half wasn’t at the level required to win games.”

City’s starting line-up caught many unawares, with Neill Byrne the only recognised centre back, Bobby Pointon lining up at left wing back and Vadaine Oliver partnering Andy Cook up top with Calum Kavanagh in behind them.

Oliver was hooked at half time for Clarke Oduor after a poor performance, while Pointon looked instantly brighter when moved into midfield after the break.

Asked if his selection and tactics contributed to that poor first half, Alexander insisted other factors were more to blame.

He said: “Sometimes I think there’s frustration in our team when we’re trying to compete, and things go against us.

“But we have to learn to ignore it or navigate it and I just thought in general in that first half, we were too far away from our opponents.

“We weren’t brave or aggressive enough in possession to put them under pressure and I thought they physically dominated us too.

“The second half we did compete at the level required and showed our quality as a team, so today is a lesson to all of us.”

City had much more of the ball in dangerous positions in the second half, but they were unable to find the finishing touch.City had much more of the ball in dangerous positions in the second half, but they were unable to find the finishing touch. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

Given City’s second half improvement, it begged the obvious question of whether the visitors should have started with that set up.

Alexander said: “Everyone knows about our injury issues and Clarke had only trained once, so he wasn’t at the level needed to start the game.

“The players that have come into the team have done well in recent games, but week by week, we’re having to do something different with the side due to us losing personnel.

“That’s difficult for us, but I still believe the team can compete better than they did in the first half.

“The shape I don’t think is a reason for us to look beyond some of the basics we got wrong.”