Mark Hughes was disappointed with his side’s first-half display, as City fell to a first defeat in eight at home to Stockport County.
Paddy Madden’s 26th-minute penalty condemned the Bantams to their first home defeat of the Sky Bet League Two season at the University of Bradford Stadium.
Hughes admitted his men did not start the game as they had intended, and failed to cope with Stockport’s threats.
He said: “I was disappointed with the first-half performance. We never really dealt with Stockport’s forward players, and they messed us around too much.
“We had a bit of apprehension in our play, for whatever reason. I did not think that would be the case, but we looked a bit nervous initially and, as a consequence, that encouraged them to cause us problems.
“We made a few changes and were much better in the second half. There was a lot of time wasting which we have come to expect, but we put ourselves in a situation where we were chasing the game, and it is always difficult under those circumstances.
“We had a few chances but never really hit the heights we know we are capable of. Credit to Stockport, I thought they proved themselves to be a good team.
“In the first half, they engaged and showed the quality they have. Over the 90 minutes, though, it was not what we were looking for.”
With a full week to work on the training field now ahead of a trip to Salford City next Saturday, Hughes is looking for a reaction from his players, which he is confident of getting.
“We will get a reaction, without a shadow of a doubt,” the Welshman added.
“I said in midweek that there would be times this season where we do not play particularly well, but it is important that, when we do get beaten, we bounce back quickly. That is our intention.
“We are not going to dwell on this. We will take the learnings we need to, of which there are quite a few. We have week to look forward to Salford, and will need to be a lot better than we were today.
“The full week helps. We can focus on key areas of the field where we know we were not as good as we can be today. Opponents will always try to affect you, which Stockport did too adversely, and we did not really have enough nous to be able to stop that, unfortunately.”