Opposition view: McCall relieved after Bantams withstand Cobblers pressure to claim Sixfields victory

Bradford City manager Stuart McCall was a relieved man on Saturday after his side survived sustained second-half pressure to beat the Cobblers 1-0 at Sixfields.
Relief: Bantams boss Stuart McCall. Picture by Kirsty EdmondsRelief: Bantams boss Stuart McCall. Picture by Kirsty Edmonds
Relief: Bantams boss Stuart McCall. Picture by Kirsty Edmonds

After Tony McMahon’s fine free-kick put City ahead, Northampton probed and pressed for an equaliser for much of the second-half but, despite creating two excellent late chances, the visitors held on for victory.

“The goal was fit to win any game but I thought in the first-half we had chances and we played some good football,” said McCall, whose side are up to third and within three points of League One leaders Shrewsbury.

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“We knew in the second-half they would come at us. They’ve probably got the biggest side in the league for set-pieces so we knew we’d have to be really strong.

“(Alex) Revell up top is a handful, they brought (Marc) Richards on and they’ve got (Matt) Crooks, plus the centre-backs, so they’ve got a side of really big boys and we knew there was going to be a lot of defending.

“I was disappointed we couldn’t get our foot on the ball a bit more but Northampton have won two on the bounce at home and I saw them against Wigan in midweek and clearly the new manager has turned them around.

“It was always going to be a tough game and we were camped in a bit more than we would have liked and they put a lot of balls in and we maybe rode our luck in the last few minutes.

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“Overall, I’d like to play great football all the time but we won again and it’s another clean sheet. This is a tough place to come and they’ve got a good squad this season so they’ll beat a lot of sides here.”