Bantams feel the pain of Wells exit

NAHKI Wells may not be the tallest or broadest player to have pulled on a Bradford City shirt, but his shadow looms large over a season that has collapsed towards catastrophe since his departure.

Before leaving for West Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield, Wells (23) — one of Bermuda’s highest-profile players ever — scored 14 goals in 19 games.

With Wells’ forward partner James Hanson out of action through injury, Bradford’s goal record following Wells’ departure in mid-January has been poor - 15 goals in 16 games. Only a recent mini-revival has stifled fears of relegation back to Sky Bet League Two.

Bradford sit on 49 points but for manager Phil Parkinson, survival isn’t yet assured.

“I just want to keep going until we are mathematically safe,” he said .

As do Athletic, who sit only four points clear of the drop zone. To stand a chance of pushing clear of the bottom four, Athletic will have to beat a new-look Bradford forward line featuring Aaron Mclean and Jon Stead – who could easily have been lining up for Athletic, had his loan to the Oldham side lasted more than a month. Stead was reportedly impressive against Coventry on Tuesday night in a scoreless draw.