Bradford City 1 Swindon Town 2

CITY continue to cut corners at set-pieces – and it’s driving Phil Parkinson and the rest of Valley Parade round the bend.

The one area you could always rely on with Parkinson’s team was the way they dealt with dead balls. But not, it seems, at this moment.

No wonder the Bantams boss looked fit to burst afterwards.

Swindon followed Yeovil back to the south west having helped themselves to another generous dose of West Yorkshire hospitality.

Four of the five away goals in the last two games have come from set-pieces – three corners and a free-kick. Those sort of stats are usually unheard of round these parts.

The obvious conclusion is the absence of Andrew Davies, who leaves a big hole to fill. But Rory McArdle and Alan Sheehan appeared to do that just fine against Leeds and Rochdale.

So why have the wheels suddenly rolled down the hill?

City have never lost three league home games in a row under Parkinson before. This is the first time that’s happened in the same season since December 2009 when Rochdale, Rotherham and Shrewsbury helped themselves to 11 goals at Stuart McCall’s expense.

Peter Jackson repeated the unwanted hat-trick but that spanned the end of the 2011 campaign and the beginning of the next before Parkinson stepped in.

The latest home setback will fuel the debate that the diamond is not so effective at Valley Parade as on the road because it allows counter-attacking teams too much room out wide.

The only width on Saturday came with the arrival of Filipe Morais from the bench.

Both City full backs looked uncomfortable; exposed defensively and seemingly reluctant to push forward and augment the attack.

Skipper Stephen Darby currently does not look the same dependable presence that City could rely on week in, week out last term – although he was the closest to snatching a draw with a flick header that was brilliantly fingered away by Wes Foderingham.

That came from Alan Sheehan’s cross and the Irishman also contributed to the spirited attempts to salvage a late point with two testing free-kicks.

But that was overshadowed by his moment of madness with Swindon’s Raphael Branco in stoppage time.

Tempers were already flaring as Yaser Kasim lay on the ground after a challenge from Mason Bennett and Sheehan waded in to have his say at the prone Iraqi.

Branco stepped in between, Sheehan lost his rag – and gave referee Richard Clarke no option but to send him packing.

The left dig into Branco’s midriff was hardly in the Floyd Mayweather class and the Brazilian went to the floor as if he’d been savaged by the hounds of Hell.

But it was a daft thing to do and now further depletes City’s numbers for the next three games. His manager was far from impressed after the match.

Sheehan’s red card put the lid on an afternoon that had slumped dramatically after such a promising opening.

After a week to chew on all that went wrong the previous game, City had come out eager and hungry to put things right.

There was more incident around the Swindon goalmouth in the first ten minutes than Yeovil had faced in the whole 90.

Even the upset of missing an early penalty – after the shock of actually being awarded one – failed to dampen that enthusiasm.

Parkinson’s team selection looked to restore the attacking mojo that had heralded the season with such a bright display against Coventry – an afternoon when they created more chances than any other.

This was the same starting line-up from that day, barring the obvious absence of a certain centre half. But Billy Clarke was restored to the forward line to assist James Hanson and Mark Yeates returned in the support role.

Both Clarke, looking a more effective foil than either Aaron Mclean or Mason Bennett, and Yeates were involved in the build-up to the penalty and the City goal.

Swindon’s part in their own downfall for the spot-kick was also an indication of the defensive malaise that was to follow.

Clarke nicked the ball off the dawdling Nathan Thompson but the attempted through ball from Yeates was blocked by Kasim.

That should have been danger averted but Jordan Turnbull’s backpass for Foderingham was way short, Clarke got their first and the keeper brought him down with an outstretched left leg.

Foderingham then turned from villain to hero in Swindon eyes when he dived to save Sheehan’s effort.

Undaunted by the setback, City kept up the momentum and were rewarded when Yeates exchanged passes with Clarke before sliding in an exquisite cross which Louis Thompson bundled into his own net under huge pressure from the incoming Jason Kennedy.

All well and good for City? Too good to last, more like.

Swindon responded with gusto. Jordan Pickford superbly kept out Kasim’s free-kick and then Billy Knott threw his body in the way of a goal-bound drive from Massimo Luongo.

But the resulting corner brought its own problems. Michael Smith spun away from his marker McArdle to meet it beyond the far post and Jonathan Obika flicked in from close range.

Last week it was Hanson being overpowered by Yeovil youngster Aaron Martin; this time it was McArdle getting out-manoeuvred. Those are mistakes that just don’t usually happen to City in that scenario.

And a second Swindon corner two minutes before half-time produced the same outcome.

Branco got a touch on Nathan Byrne’s corner, it hit Hanson and dropped in the melee. Five claret and amber shirts were in the vicinity but nobody was able to react as quickly as Obika, who smashed the loose ball past Pickford.

It made for a great debut for the £200,000 striker following his deadline-day move from Tottenham – but an excrutiating case of déjà vu for the locals.

Swindon had the chances on the break to have put the game out of City’s reach but the hosts hung in there and only the athleticism of Foderingham ultimately deprived them of some reward.

But amid all the posturing and anger that followed the stoppage-time flare-up, there was no escaping the feeling that this was very much a wound of the self-inflicted variety.

City v Swindon Picture Gallery