WANDERERS rescued a point to leave Phil Parkinson proud on his return to Bradford City.

Trailing to two Charlie Wyke goals inside the first 16 minutes, the Whites looked like being steamrollered at Valley Parade in front of a voracious home crowd.

But after steadying the ship, David Wheater halved the deficit with his fifth of the season before Gary Madine headed home Filipe Morais’s fine cross to level the scores.

Bradford had chances and sub Timothee Dieng hit the woodwork – but Madine saw a late header saved by Colin Doyle which could have inflicted the Bantams’ first home defeat since last March – when Parkinson sat in the home dugout.

“The worry about today was that the crowd were going to be so pumped up and they started with such intensity that we have to be honest, we struggled to cope with it,” Parkinson told The Bolton News.

“We’d spoken about what to expect but they were sharper than us all over the pitch. When you are sharp and the adrenaline is pumping through your body you better with the ball than without it.

“We needed to be calmer in possession, and when we did that in the second half we were the better team.”

The introduction of James Henry and Viv Solomon-Otabor off the bench proved to be a turning point in the game for Wanderers, who finished the stronger of the two teams.

“The subs made a good impact and I’m really pleased for them, they lifted us,” he said.

“It was a tremendous game and I’m really proud of the lads for sticking in there and getting back into it.

“I have managed here for many years and I have seen Bradford do that to many teams. We didn’t cope well.

“But it could have gone one of two ways at half time - but we stood strong and took a very good point.”