David Turnbull and Calum Chambers scored in the first half to put the League One leaders in command but they had to defend strongly after the break after Jenson Metcalfe pulled one back.

Manager Barry-Murphy said: “It was a really tough game as we expected. Bradford at home are a tough team and really difficult to play against.

“We looked really slick in the first half, found our passing game and got into the areas of the pitch that we wanted to. We scored a spectacular goal from David Turnbull.

“Bradford scored an equally exciting goal from their point of view in the second half and we had to weather the storm and defend the box for our lives.

“Putting bodies on the line is part of what playing for Cardiff should be about, so it’s very important.

“The players feel they are making great progress but you have to show it every week. We knew it was going to be hard to come to Valley Parade against a team as good as Bradford with a manager who’s taken them on such a successful journey so quickly.

“The goal came out of the blue and rocked us for a few minutes. But we got straight back on it and sealed the game.”

Cardiff’s bright start was rewarded after 14 minutes when Turnbull scored from 20 yards.

They doubled the lead 10 minutes later with Chambers flicking home a cross-shot from Ollie Tanner.

Bradford came back into it and felt referee David Rock should have given a penalty when Antoni Sarcevic went down in a challenge with Chambers.

Manager Graham Alexander said: “I don’t see how it cannot be given.

“When managers talk about consistency, it’s not consistency between referees because obviously people are different and interpret things differently.

“It’s when you get the same referee and once he’s set the bar after 20 minutes of what is a foul and what isn’t, and then the ‘swingometer’ goes from one end to the other. That’s when it gets frustrating.

“If he’s not giving that anywhere else on the pitch, then I might as well go and get our trunks on and just start wrestling each other. It was a blatant penalty and we’ve seen that before here.”

Half-time Bradford substitute Stephen Humphrys missed from six yards before Metcalfe scored with a finish similar to Turnbull’s in the top corner.

Alexander added: “We’ve been on the wrong end of a one-goal margin but I thought we were the more dominant team in the second half especially.

“I thought we’d started the first half like that but there was a couple of moments where we’d just gone off ourselves.”