Wolves summon reserves

Wolves 3 Bradford City 1

On an FA Cup weekend, it was this First Division game that, for 45 minutes and thanks to Ashley Ward's goal and Bradford's goalkeeper, threatened to provide one of the day's biggest upsets.

However, by the end, the Bantams were only the latest visitors to Molineux this season to discover that resistance is futile. Having taken the lead through Ward and with a brilliant performance from their on-loan goalkeeper Alan Combe, they looked good value to frustrate the team harbouring hopes of promotion to the Premiership for the first time.

It was not to be. Two weeks ago, Wolves faced another struggling side in Rotherham and went behind in an identical scenario before eventually making their domination pay the full three-point dividend. And that was exactly how it panned out yesterday as Wolves reclaimed joint leadership of the division.

And Dave Jones, Wolves' manager, is eyeing the end of April and finishing up as champions. He said: "We want to keep putting pressure on Manchester City and we want to go up in first place."

Yet before their resurgence 14 minutes from time that prospect looked unlikely because of Bradford's heroics. The early kick-off and Alex Rae's absence from midfield made Wolves look sluggish, and Bradford looked more than comfortable with the midday start.

While Wolves felt the loss of Rae, Bradford too had their own selection problems to contend with, not least in the goalkeeping department. With Gary Walsh and his replacement, Aidan Davidson, both out for the season, the Bradford manager, Nicky Law, recently drafted in Combe from Dundee United and, in only his second game, he performed miracles.

That seemed to inspire his team-mates for, with 15 minutes of the first half left, Wolves were suddenly chasing the game. Bradford, with their first shot of any sort, took the lead after a classic counter-attack. Simon Grayson, on his on-loan debut from Blackburn, turned in a cross from the right-hand side that Joleon Lescott could only poke as far as Ward and the old campaigner casually placed his shot inside Michael Oakes' right-hand post.

It was then that Combe came into his own, with several fine saves to give Bradford hope of climbing further from the relegation zone. After 35 minutes, Blake was turning away from goal but still unleashed a powerful drive that Combe did well to turn away. From the ensuing corner Mark Kennedy found Dean Sturridge with a cross and this time his overhead kick was saved on the goal line.

Not that Combe was finished there as again he was well placed to collect Blake's header and on the stroke of half-time he rescued the Bantams when Shaun Newton tried his luck.

But as Rotherham learned two weeks ago, Wolves are persistent and, with just 14 minutes left, Combe was beaten. As Kennedy put in his umpteenth cross, the ball fell kindly for Sturridge, who made no mistake from 12 yards for his 12th goal in 16 games since arriving from Leicester. His 13th came in injury time when he was brought down for a penalty that he stepped up to convert with ease.

In between, Newton scored the crucial second goal to finish off Bradford, when the former Charlton player cut in from the right and scored with the aid of a deflection off the post. Jones thought that his side would win once they had equalised, which Law agreed with, but the Bradford manager was still unhappy with how his side had crumbled. "The three goals were all down to individual errors, but I'm still so disappointed because I thought we could nick something," he said.