Written by Jason McKeown (images by John Dewhirst)

This is what character looks like. The clock ticking, the pressure building, the blue-and-white wall rickety yet firm. Heads should have started to drop. But this lot – they just never stop.

And so, as the clock ticked onto the 90th minute, as the fourth official prepared to announce how much stoppage time would be played, and as the visiting goalkeeper slowly got to his feet after hoovering up precious seconds while injured on the ground, City never blinked. Max Power sent over a corner, Joe Wright rose highest to head it, and the ball looped into the far corner to send Valley Parade’s biggest Boxing Day crowd in 86 years wild with glee.

A truly remarkable victory, in the penultimate game of a truly remarkable year. This wonderful old stadium has hosted so many wonderful moments over the past 12 months, but there’s always room for one more. Take a bow, then, Joe Wright. A place in City folklore assured, on another home occasion to treasure.

It means City have won 19 of their 24 home games in 2025, with one more Valley Parade outing still to come. Shall we start a petition to extend 2025 by another few months?

In the here and now, this was huge. So much of the afternoon was a tortuous battle, and as City looked set to drop two points – and a quick check of the latest scores on your mobile showed a troubling picture of teams below the Bantams winning to eat into their points advantage – the team summoned all of their character to find a way to win. And though this won’t go down as their most eye-catching performance of the campaign, the manner of victory could yet make it the most important three points of the season. The chips were down, yet they pulled it out of the bag. Again.

Wigan turned up with a healthy, boisterous away crowd decked out in fancy dress. Those fans will head home nursing hard-luck tales of woe about how their side didn’t take something from this game. But ultimately Wigan’s undoing was their own reckless pressing of the self-destruct button. On level terms, and with some momentum midway through the second half, Wigan went down to 10 men, then down to nine. Silly, ill-judged fouls – especially Matt Smith’s lunge on Jenson Metcalfe when his team were already a man light.

City lay in wait and punished the visitors’ stupidity, with the lateness of Joe Wright’s winner only adding to the Latics’ pain. There must be something especially uncomfortable about exiting a stadium in fancy dress having just watched the gloomiest of endings. How dark must the Bradford night have felt.

City will not care one bit.

This was certainly far from their best display of the season, but in keeping with their recent upturn in form there is a calm, methodical wisdom to the way they are going about things right now. They have learned to manage chaos, displaying once again a shrewdness in carving out victory by mastering the fine margins. They can be lucky at times, but they also make their own luck. Good things keep happening not by accident, but by design.

It’s why there was no panic about the fact they found this such a struggle. City had plenty of possession – around 60% before the first of the two Wigan red cards – but laboured to get to grips with another opposition side deploying an extra man in midfield. Wigan’s 3-1-4-2 set-up was bold and enabled the visitors to shade large spells of the game, at least while it was 11 v 11. Smith sat in front of the back three and, like an NFL quarterback, sprayed some excellent passes across the park to spark attacks of promise. If only he’d stuck to passing instead of thinking he could tackle, the visiting gameplan might have worked.

It was a game that took a while to get going. We had to wait 25 minutes for either side to muster anything resembling a shot. That came from Wigan when a free kick was swung in from wide and an effort was blocked by a claret and amber body. In the same attack Wigan had their first of two penalty shouts when Max Power handled in the box – the referee correctly ruled that the former Wigan man knew nothing about it.

Their second appeal arrived later in the half and was certainly stronger. Sam Walker came to claim a high, looping ball, only to uncharacteristically drop it onto Callum Wright’s head. Before the Wigan midfielder could turn the loose ball home, Aden Baldwin wrestled him to the ground. Hmmm.

By that stage, City had started to find some rhythm following a tentative opening. Their first shot came in the 28th minute after Pointon was hauled down on the edge of the box by Jensen Weir – the first of what would prove to be two bookings for the player. Humphrys struck the free kick into the wall, the ball bouncing harmlessly through to Sam Tickle. And at that point, it all felt a bit of a yawnfest.

But in the minutes before the interval, City found higher gears. Jenson Metcalfe – who had another brilliant game – robbed Smith of possession, drove forward and hit a powerful long-range effort that Tickle saved superbly. From the resultant corner, Pointon set up Metcalfe for a low shot that struck a defender. Joe Wright was primed to tap home the loose ball, only for it to be blocked.

No matter. City got their reward soon after. Metcalfe was fouled deep in his own half, Walker sent the free kick wide towards Touray, who outjumped Fraser Murray to head the ball into Humphrys’ path. The former Wigan man wriggled free of James Carragher before calmly slotting past Tickle. Two in two for Humphrys, and four for the season. The debate about his position won’t go away, but Graham Alexander will feel justified in his recent robust defence of sticking with him as a striker.

The goal was harsh on Wigan who up until then had been the better side. Their best chance came on the half hour mark when Murray had sent a dangerous ball into the box, Callum Wright beat Brad Halliday to flick it into the path of the unmarked Raphael Borges Rodrigues. But from an angle the Dutchman could only lift the ball over the bar with just Sam Walker to beat.

Wigan gave a full senior debut to their exciting 18-year-old forward Harrison Bettoni – who made headlines a month ago by scoring twice on his league debut in Wigan’s only away win of the season so far, at Wimbledon. Bettoni certainly caused problems, and just before City opened the scoring the Wigan starlet had got in on goal only to be denied by a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Joe Wright.

Weirdly, Wigan’s equaliser came against the run of play. City began the second half brighter and more purposeful, but Christian Saydee produced a moment of real quality. With his back to goal and a bouncing ball, he flicked wonderfully to release Callum Wright, who poked past Walker. A fine finish, from arguably the best assist Valley Parade has witnessed all season.

But just six minutes after equalising came the first Wigan red card when Weir produced a late lunge on Ibou Touray. There really could be no complaints, and the game’s momentum swung decisively. In the final 26 minutes (which included six minutes of stoppage time), City had 87% possession and the Wigan team completed just six accurate passes. At 10 men they were set up on the break and did occasionally threaten to fashion a chance. But when the second red card was issued, they had no other option but to grimly hold on.

Smith, as mentioned, got that red card and really let his team and supporters down. It was a tackle he didn’t need to go for, produced criminally late. Without it, Wigan probably would have claimed a point. Because for all City’s late possession, they didn’t fashion many notable chances. Lots of balls into the box and Josh Neufville – who came on for Halliday – looking more his old self. After Pointon pulled up injured in the first half, Tyreik Wright came on at half time and was a threat. But City spent a lot of time failing to exert sustained pressure.

Which is why they had to dig deep to pull this one off.

It’s massive they triumphed in this way, and it sends a message to the rest of the division. In Autumn we saw City dwindle, before earning an early winter trio of wins that were important but not exactly headline-grabbing. Was losing to Leyton Orient last week a sign of a deeper malaise? Here, the team delivered an emphatic no. They showcased their streetwise astuteness and ability to win ugly. They refuse to fade out of a promotion race that no one expected them to be in.

Thought fade out is what looks set to happen to one of the heroes who helped get City where they are right now because of their immense contributions during leaner times. I don’t think I’ll have been the only City fan who’s first instinct – when the team sheet came through for this game – was to check if Number 9 appeared on the list. It didn’t. Andy Cook’s continued absence is notable, revealing and ultimately heartbreaking.

It’s a true head vs heart development. On the head side, it’s understandable that Graham Alexander seems to have reached the conclusion he must move on from the 35-year-old striker – still recovering from serious injury – in view of the club’s heightened ambitions of playing Championship football. Cook was desperately unlucky to rupture his ACL a year ago, and in his absence City surged forward, leaving him behind. Out of contract in the summer, but still with much to offer the game, the right thing for Cook is to find a new home where he can play regular football and make up for lost time.

On the heart side – this is Andy Cook. Our Andy. City’s best and most important player of the 2020s. The man who at times carried the club through difficult seasons, scoring 88 goals to become the joint-third highest goalscorer in the club’s history. Andy Cook is a Bradford City legend adored by everyone. He does not deserve to drift towards the exit in this low-key, timid way.

As supporters, we get to wrestle with the head vs heart dilemma – and so the debate will rage on and on. But ultimately, Alexander is paid to use only his head. And his track record on these type of tough decisions – Richie Smallwood, Jamie Walker, Jake Young – demands our trust.

It will be a sad day when Cook’s departure is confirmed, and that day feels close. Sentiment tugs hard, but City’s stunning progress over the past year will not be sustained by sentimentality.

They proved that point here, in the unromantic way they ripped apart Wigan’s hopes of a post-Christmas miracle. City are not here to be a supporting act in someone else’s story. Not here to donate points on their own patch. There is a machine-like ruthlessness to the way they go about their business now – in their game management, their decision-making, their mentality.

This is a team oozing confidence, purpose and intelligence. And above all else, character. Character that refuses to settle. Character that keeps finding a way. Character that, once again, carried them through.

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2025/26, BCAFC, League One, Wigan Athletic