Carlisle United moved up to fourth in the League Two table after a 1-0 home win over Bradford City.
A crowd of over 8,000 saw Carlisle dominate the first-half and take in a deserved 1-0 lead – which proved to be the only goal of the game.
It was Bradford’s first game in 23 days and it showed as Carlisle had got rid of some of their enforced rustiness with a match last week.
Goalkeeper Harry Lewis was a hero for the Bantams with a number of excellent stops which had started on 11 minutes when he denied man of the match Jon Mellish.
He produced a fine tip-over to foil Callum Guy and then needed his knee on the line to keep out a close-range poke from Morgan Feeney.
In between times defender Brad Halliday scrambled Jack Stretton’s cross to safety in the six-yard box.
Lewis finally had to pick the ball out of the net on 34 minutes when he was beaten by a header from Paul Huntington when he got on the end of a Taylor Charters corner.
Jordan Gibson and Mellish both had glorious opportunities to add to Carlisle’s lead early in the second half but both failed.
They almost paid the ultimate price when their former player Andy Cook shot wide and then headed past the post after he was left with great chances to equalise.
Lewis had one more smart save to make before the end when he kept out a free kick from Owen Moxon and Carlisle can look forward to the next assignment on Thursday at Crewe from a favourable League position.
