BRADFORD CITY 2 CITY 4
League Division 2
21st October 1987
Attendance 14,819
Scorers
City Stewart(2 & 81), Lake(52), White(80)
Bradford Evans(53) Mitchell(70)
City Nixon, Gidman, Hinchcliffe, Clements, Brightwell, Redmond, Lake, Stewart, Varadi, McNab, Simpson – subs White(71), Scott(unused)
Bradford Tomlinson, Mitchell, Abbott, McCall, Oliver, Evans, Hendrie, Sinnott, Leonard, Palin, Ormondroyd subs used Ellis, Futcher
…As early as the second minute Paul Stewart put the Blues in front. The large travelling support couldn’t believe it. Before the match they debated how long the Blues’ miserable run would continue and, when a brief floodlight failure occurred, they joked Mel Machin’s side may stand a better chance of winning if they played in the dark!
During the abysmal run City’s travelling support seemed to increase as fans felt they had to be there when the day eventually came to celebrate an away League victory.
Fortunately, this was a day when the Blues were at their best, and seven minutes into the second half Paul Lake made it 2-0, only for David Evans to pull one back a minute later. An anxious period followed with the Bantams clearly enjoying their best spell. In the 70th minute a £70,000 signing from Aberdeen, Brian Mitchell, equalised.
City fans were worried. Was this going to be another disappointing result? Ten minutes later they were reassured when substitute David White restored the lead. Within a minute Paul Stewart scored his second and the Blues ran out 4-2 winners. The relief was immense and City fans celebrated as they journeyed back across the Pennines…
EXTRACT FROM AN ARTICLE BY GARY JAMES FROM CITY PROGRAMME 16TH DECEMBER 2001