Bradford City 2 Chesterfield 0: Now real business begins - Phil Parkinson

A routine victory over a dismal Chesterfield outfit was City’s seventh on the spin in the league at fortress Valley Parade, a sequence previously registered in January 1968.

That was a time when The Beatles were riding high at the top of the charts with Hello Goodbye. The present-day Bantams are concerned with their own farewells – to League One – and reacquaintances, with the Championship.

The desired outcome for the hosts was never in doubt after Lee Evans’s exquisite seventh-minute opener.

Admittedly, things were slightly marred by a couple of developments, most notably a late one at the other end of the country in Kent.

A penalty in the eighth-minute of stoppage-time from Yorkshireman Lee Gregory enabled Millwall to finish above City in fourth spot with a 2-1 win at Gillingham – with the upshot being that they will have second-leg home advantage against Phil Parkinson’s troops at the Den on May 20.

The only other slight downer was the withdrawal at the interval of Reece Burke with a groin strain, with the defender to undergo treatment ahead of the first leg.

Despite that news, it was not a day for trepidation with Bradford entering the play-offs with that precious commodity that all successful aspirants require: momentum.

Millwall are likely to be minded of that ahead of next Sunday’s first leg at another formidable arena, even accounting for the second instalment being in their south-east London citadel.

Parkinson said: “I thought the lads’ professionalism was outstanding.

“We had some targets; to get 80 points for the first time since 1999 and to win seven home league games on the trot for the first time in (almost) 50 years.

“So it is a fantastic achievement by the lads to do that. That is not easy; I cannot remember in my whole career as a player or manager ever achieving that.

“We have worked really hard this season to get to the 80-point mark. This time last year, Chesterfield were in the play-offs and the turnaround between them and us this year is not far off 30 points.

“If you look at when Gillingham beat us (on January 2), the turnaround in points of where we are and where they are now has been one almighty effort.

“All that effort has gone in and now the real business starts of the play-offs and we can’t wait for it.”

On the situation with recently-crowned player of the year Burke, he added: “It was a blow for us, but equally Millwall have had a player sent off and I thought Nathan was faultless when he came on as he has been all season. Whichever two we go with (in central defence), we will be confident.”

The game may have been rendered largely academic for Bradford, ahead of the real stuff in the play-offs following their qualification last weekend, but no one could accuse the hosts of lacking urgency and intent in a dominant first-half showing, admittedly aided by visitors who produced a passive end-of-season showing.

City took an early lead through a blockbuster of a long-range strike from Evans, who will remember his first goal at Valley Parade for a good while.

The midfielder – fresh from securing the Bantams’ top-six place with a key goal at Southend – fired home a sublime left-footed shot that beat Keighley-born Tommy Lee and flew into the top corner after an initial effort from Tony McMahon was blocked.

Evans went close to a second after being teed up impressively by the recalled Jamie Proctor, with his low shot clipping the outside of a post, and saw another effort held by Lee.

At the other end, Chesterfield, who had clinched safety eight days earlier, looked bereft of attacking threat minus the services of injured top-scorer Lee Novak.

Aside from the goal, the other major incident of the first period proved a worrying one for the Spireites with visiting defender Tom Anderson, who fell to the deck after colliding with Proctor, stretchered off after lengthy attention from several medics.

The second period followed the pattern of the first and it was no surprise that Evans produced the first effort of note, a cross-shot turned away by Lee, with Rory McArdle powering a header just over following the subsequent corner from McMahon.

An audacious 40-yarder from Billy Clarke almost caught out Lee, who also saved a crisply-struck low drive from the Irishman not too long after.

Chesterfield then had Sam Hird see red after felling Proctor as he bore down on goal on 67 minutes.

A rare attempt on the Bradford goal saw Jay O’Shea’s free-kick fly inches wide. But the second goal the hosts had been threatening arrived three minutes from time.

Proctor’s cross picked out Billy Clarke, who made no mistake from close range.

Bradford City: Williams, Darby, McArdle, Burke (Nathan Clarke 46), Meredith, McMahon, Evans, Cullen (Morais 79), Anderson (Reid 68), Proctor, Billy Clarke. Unused substitutes: Morris, Thorpe, Cracknell, Webb-Foster.

Chesterfield: Lee, Raglan, Hird, Anderson (Talbot 40), Donohue, Ariyibi, Banks, Liddle, Campbell-Ryce (Slew 54), O’Shea, Gardner (Dimaio 69). Unused substitutes: Evatt, Humphreys, Chapman, Simons.

Referee: D Webb (County Durham).