A VALLEY Parade crisis averted – is it time we recognised this Wanderers team might actually have the gumption to succeed in their promotion fight?

Twenty minutes into Phil Parkinson’s return to Bradford City, with his former club two Charlie Wyke goals to the good, the danger signs were there for all to see.

A team devoid of Jay Spearing’s bulldog spirit, Andy Taylor’s consistency and Chris Long’s pace had been blown away by a team riding high on a quite magnificent home backing.

There are few environments less hospitable than Valley Parade outside the Premier League. And that includes the horribly pock-marked pitch.

Wanderers had forgotten to turn up. Midfield absent, defence completely over-run and goalkeeper suffering badly for confidence, you wondered just how embarrassing Parkinson’s ‘homecoming’ might prove to be.

Bradford, whatever driving force behind them – be it promotion ambitions or a desire to prove Parkinson wrong for moving to Bolton last June – were brilliant in those early stages; perhaps as good an opponent as Wanderers have faced all season.

The gloom-mongers lined up to take a pop. And any criticism Parkinson’s side got at that point was warranted.

But when the Whites boss most needed someone to step up, the manner in which his patched-up line-up pressed the reset button and found a way back into the game was just as impressive as the home side’s early onslaught.

David Wheater produced as fine a centre-half’s performance as you’d wish to see in the last hour of the game, putting body in harm’s way time after time, and scoring the all-crucial first reply.

Josh Vela emerged from a first-half slumber to take the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half. Plenty has been said and written about his form since the departure of Zach Clough – but when his team most needed it, this was as good as it has been all season.

Gary Madine laboured without much reward for an hour, and should have scored more than just the equaliser. But anyone questioning his desire to keep Wanderers in this promotion chase should watch the way he bounced continuously off the Bradford centre-halves, knocked from pillar to post, without let-up. Special mention must also go to two second-half substitutes, James Henry and Viv Solomon-Otabor, whose introduction really did swing things in the Whites’ favour.

Henry created the second goal with a sumptuous cross for Madine and put a strong marker down for next weekend’s trip to Sheffield United.

The on-loan Wolves winger was unlucky to find himself the odd one out in Parkinson’s loan conundrum but his experience and quality on the ball shone through in the latter stages.

Solomon-Otabor has also waited for his chance. The Birmingham City youngster clearly still needs some fine tuning but his strong, direct running hinted at the fact Parkinson has discovered another gem who could make a difference.

Bradford’s fans may be more aesthetically pleased by Stuart McCall’s brand of football. In Josh Cullen, Nicky Law and Mark Marshall they have some immensely-watchable footballers.

Wyke, a deadline day signing from Carlisle, took his tally to three in four games with two simple goals, aided by some poor goalkeeping.

His first, a swinging left-footer, seemed to bobble off the turf and pass through Alnwick en route to the net. The second, a simple tap-in after Law had clipped a cross past the helpless Wanderers keeper, looked like it would trigger a landslide.

Alnwick struggled under a succession of corners but, to his credit, did recover in the final stages to help diffuse a few dangerous situations. Whether Parkinson looks at the fit-again Mark Howard for next weekend’s trip to his former club Sheffield United remains to be seen.

Home fans took great delight in shouting “hoof” at every long ball pitched out of the Bolton defence, and in reminding their former manager of the scoreline, at least for a while.

The state of the pitch made Wanderers’ ultra-direct approach somewhat more understandable. It wasn’t easy to watch, however, and the introduction of Henry and Solomon-Otabor proved a tipping point.

Spearing’s absence in midfield was obvious early on. Vela and Tom Thorpe both upped their game after the restart and made sure that the huge swathes of open space Cullen, Marshall and Law roamed into were no longer there in the second half.

Henry and Solomon-Otabor managed to carry the ball and put the home side on the back foot. Filipe Morais had managed to do that in fits and starts in the first hour but suddenly the Whites looked capable of doing damage.

Madine had a chance to win it at 2-2 when he headed into Colin Doyle arms from 10 yards out. Bradford could also have sealed it when sub Timothee Dieng crashed a shot against the woodwork and Wyke missed a gilt-edged chance for a hat-trick.

They say ‘if you can’t be good, be lucky’ and there was an element of fortune in the fact Bradford had failed to capitalise on the chances they created.

Wanderers continue to show a survival instinct which might not be pretty but is effective. And given their position in the table it might just be enough to see them over the line.

Significant tests await at Bramall Lane and Glanford Park. Pass them, and even the most pragmatic Bolton fan might have to admit there is reason for optimism.