BRADFORD CITY AFC

Bantams boss Phil Parkinson was thrilled to see City end their first season back in Sky Bet League 1 on a high note after coming from behind to beat Tranmere Rovers on the final day of the campaign this Saturday.

Goals from strike pairing Jon Stead and Aaron Mclean in the final ten minutes of the match cancelled out Matthew Pennington's early opener to give the Bantams victory and also confirm a top half finish for Parkinson's men.

The result, unfortunately for City's hosts, also helped to see Tranmere relegated down into League 2.

With Tranmere in defensive mode from most of the match following Junior Brown's 30th minute red card for a lunge on Nathan Doyle, City are to bide their time before they could break through Rovers' ten men, but Parkinson was beaming that his side did eventually get the win they were craving.

Parkinson said: "We are very pleased with the result today (Saturday) - the most pleasing part being that it has taken us up to eleventh in the table.

"There have been times as a group where we've had to look over our shoulders but our aim has always been to try and get in that top half.

"These last two victories - today and Crawley Town - have enabled us to do that.

"Looking at the game itself, we've conceded a really soft goal early on and that has lifted the whole stadium and their team.

"The sending off (for Junior Brown) has enabled them to sit back a bit with their two banks of four and make it really difficult for us. We were really patient though in the second half and we had enough quality players out there that a chance would eventually come.

"When they did, we had two strikers who had the ability to put the ball in the back of the net.

"Jon (Stead) has worked really hard since he's come here and I am really pleased to see him get his goal.

"With Aaron's goal, it was a terrific finish. In these last two games where he was scored in both, he has really started to show what he is all about in front of goal.

"We couldn't get the lads off the training pitch this week, their attitude has been so good.

"I said to them before the game today that we have approached every game in the right manner this season and you deserve to finish the season on a high.

"We wanted to go out for the season in style, and we were able to do that."

With another season of fixtures now complete, Parkinson admits that thoughts are already turning to the new campaign at the end of the summer.

Parkinson added: "I think we've made progress this season but we've got to progress again next year. That has to be the key to it now.

"We want to keep moving forward. Over the last three years, the club has improved in many aspects and we want to continue to do that.

"We need to build on this top half finish and push on next year, and that is the intention. Everyone at the club is ambitious. The chairmen, myself, all of the staff, all of the players - we are all ambitious. We want to get this club as far as we can.

"We know we face a challenging but enjoyable summer ahead of us now. We have plenty of time to make the right decisions and we are going to take every bit of that time to make sure we have a squad in place come August that is a very good one."