Mark Hughes lamented how a frantic affair at Gresty Road put paid to Bradford’s automatic promotion hopes.
The Bantams needed to round off the campaign with wins against Crewe and in their finale against Leyton Orient.
But after mounting a second-half comeback to cancel out Dan Agyei’s first-half double for the Railwaymen they were undone by a penalty deep into stoppage time converted by Chris Long.
They now need a point from Monday’s home clash with the League Two champions to secure a play-off place.
“You’re always at risk of a ball dropping into certain areas when it becomes an end-to-end game like it did,” said Hughes.
“Anything can happen and we need to get our foot on the ball and take control of it which we didn’t do.
“But given the circumstances, being 2-0 down we had to have a really strong response and we did show good resilience. But there were quite a few consecutive errors which led to us conceding the goals.
“We’ve now got a huge game and we have to pick ourselves up for Leyton Orient next Monday. We’ll have a huge following next time out with a point needed to secure our play-off place.
“Ideally we’d have liked to have settle it tonight, but we’ve still got everything to play for. I expect that we will get a reaction from the players against Orient and I know it’s what they are capable of.”
In the first half, Bradford were caught out by the pace and power of Agyei who tore away and beat keeper Harry Lewis at his near post.
It got worse when Agyei doubled the lead, tapping in Long’s low cross in the 43rd minute.
But Bradford flexed their muscles with a blistering start to the second period and Andy Cook powered a header home from Richie Smallwood’s corner.
Goalkeeper Tom Booth fumbled under pressure and Jamie Walker slid the ball home into an empty net for the leveller.
When Smallwood tripped substitute David Amoo, Long blasted the penalty home for Crewe’s winner.
“We gave a really good account of ourselves and it was important to do that for the other teams in the league,” stressed Crewe boss Lee Bell.
“The boys played some really good football and for us to finish on a high at home like that with a really good performance was really pleasing.
“The players have become more adept at dealing with that sort of situation and I thought we would be the better football team too. The players were magnificent.
“We’re up to 13th and it is a good achievement to get on this run at home. We want to make this a difficult place for teams to come.
“It was a terrific penalty from Chris Long and Dan Agyei ran himself into the ground.”
Huddersfield all but relegated from Championship while League Two play-off spots decided
Huddersfield Town saw their relegation from the Championship all but confirmed after a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Birmingham City on Saturday.
The Terriers avoided a defeat that would have seen them relegated on Saturday, but even a win on the final day over promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town will not be enough unless they overcome a huge goal difference of 15 goals with Plymouth Argyle.
Birmingham remain in the other relegation place and now must beat Norwich City to stand a chance of staying up with Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and Blackburn Rovers also still in danger.
At the other end of the table, the Canaries dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City, leaving the door open for Hull City, who face Ipswich Town later today.
Huddersfield Town all but relegated from Championship while League Two play-off fate is decided
Huddersfield Town saw their relegation all but confirmed after a 1-1 draw with fellows strugglers Birmingham City.
The Terriers avoided a defeat that would have seen them relegated on Saturday, but even a win on the final day over promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town will not be enough unless they overcome a huge goal difference of 15 goals with Plymouth Argyle.
Birmingham remain in the other relegation place and now must beat Norwich City to stand a chance of staying up with Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and Blackburn Rovers also still in danger.
At the other end of the table, the Canaries dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City, leaving the door open for Hull City, who face Ipswich Town later today.
Grant McCann hails ‘outstanding’ response as Doncaster close on play-off spot
Grant McCann was a proud man after Doncaster won 4-1 at Colchester to register a 10th straight victory and move into the play-off places.
Colchester took a ninth-minute lead through Jayden Fevrier, who converted Tom Hopper’s cross at the far post, but remain in relegation danger after Rovers’ emphatic comeback.
Luke Molyneux equalised after collecting Jamie Sterry’s short free-kick and scoring with a low 25-yard shot and Doncaster took a 22nd-minute lead through Harrison Biggins, who netted from close range from Molyneux’s delivery.
Tom Anderson netted a third in the 76th minute at the near post from Hakeeb Adelakun’s pass, and Joe Ironside sealed victory when he converted after Sam Hornby had tipped James Maxwell’s shot onto a post.
A point on the final day against Gillingham will seal a play-off spot regardless of results elsewhere and McCann said: “I’m really proud.
“Obviously conceding early wasn’t ideal for us but the response was outstanding.
“We scored two very good goals, the first one from Mols (Molyneux) and the second one was another very good goal and something we knew could help us in the game, Biggo’s (Biggins) runs from the centre circle in between the posts after good play by Mols.
“In the first half, we were a little bit edgy and it was a little bit even Steven in the game.
“But in the second half, we were really comfortable and scored another couple of really good goals.
“We always play for more goals; we never sit tight and take what we’ve got – that’s just the way we like to go about things.
“We came up against a team that’s obviously down the wrong end of the table and we knew it was going to be tough.”
Fevrier had Colchester on track to secure survival but they go into Saturday’s final game just three points above the drop zone, with their goal difference superior by four over Sutton.
Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “It was a tough night for us.
“We have the ability to self-harm, to self-destruct, in a game where we let four terrible goals in.
“For 75 minutes, it was 2-1 and they’ve had three shots at goal, two from 30 yards, and somehow they’re winning the game.
“We were 2-1 down at half-time where we felt we shouldn’t have been, as we’d done a lot right.
“We were in total ascendency and they don’t even want to score any more goals, they want to hang onto what they’ve got and we gift them another two goals.
“I’ve just looked back at the goals and they’re very hard to defend.
“We actually played well box to box but you can’t say you’ve played well when we’ve conceded the goals that we have.
“It’s a damaging night and I’m really angry. We just did the basics so poorly.”
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