Michael Duff picks out Bradford perseverance after securing first victory

Michael Duff was pleased with Bradford’s perseverance after they went top of Sky Bet League One with a 2-0 win over Stevenage.

Antoni Sarcevic and Will Swan scored in the last 11 minutes at Valley Parade to earn a first league win for the manager who succeeded Graham Alexander 11 days ago.

Duff said: “I thought we deserved the win against a good team who punch above their weight and got in the play-offs last year and have started this season well again.

“I thought we started the game well and got lots of balls in the box. At 0-0 at half-time, I thought things didn’t quite drop and it was just, ‘can we improve again?’.

“We got more numbers in the box today. Last week, if you look at nearly every cross we had, we had two men in there, today we had four.

“I thought the subs had an impact in the game. We were thinking of making all four at one point but we didn’t want that to come across as desperate to the players that were on the pitch.

“I thought we were in control of the game and well on top.

“So that’s why we ended up breaking it up into a two and a two. But ultimately, that’s what you want. You want substitutes to impact the game.”

Stevenage threatened inside the first 30 seconds as Jon McCracken tipped over the bar from Dan Kemp’s 20-yard effort.

Adam Phillips had a close effort deflect wide off his own Bradford team-mate Bobby Pointon.

Bradford brought on strikers Nick Powell, Stephen Humphrys and Swan and they gave the home side added momentum.

All three were involved in the build-up to Sarcevic’s 79th-minute penalty with Powell tripped by keeper Tommy Sefton.

Swan added a second eight minutes later when Sefton palmed out Humphrys’ cross.

Stevenage manager Alex Revell said: “The players they brought on to the pitch made a huge difference to their team.

“We weren’t ruthless enough in the first half. We created some really big moments here that you don’t often get and didn’t make the most of them.

“We had some really good opportunities rather than chances. We defended our box really well and only gave them opportunities from our mistakes.

“Second half we just accepted that to keep a clean sheet we were going to have to defend rather than taking it the other way. I felt their subs made a massive difference and proved when they came on what strength they’ve got.

“We’re disappointed because I don’t think they are 2-0 better than us.

“We keep speaking about conviction and who we are. Second half we just relied on our backline too much to be solid.

“You’ve also got to flick a switch and go the other end. We didn’t do enough to score in the second half.”