Bradford City boss: It's Bobby Pointon's hat-trick in derby

Pointon scored the first two and insisted he got the last touch on the third, which was initially given to Josh Neufville.

City clinched a deserved 3-1 victory in the first West Yorkshire derby in the league since 2007 at a bouncing University of Bradford Stadium.

It will be down to the EFL’s dubious goals panel to make the ruling but Graham Alexander is backing Pointon, who left the ground clutching the match ball.

“I don’t want to take it off Josh because he was superb again,” said the City boss. “But Bobby got in there and he said it came off him.

“For a Bradford-born boy playing in his first derby, to score a hat-trick on this day will be remembered for a long time.”

It was yet another fairy-tale afternoon at Valley Parade following on from Andy Cook’s recent two-goal return and the dramatic promotion-clinching finish on the final day of last season.

Alexander added: “Keep believing and keep going for things. Football is a brilliant sport for producing strange things that people will talk about for years.

“We’ve been really fortunate to have a few of those in the last six months – Cooky coming back and scoring two goals, Bobby maybe a hat-trick today, scoring against Fleetwood in the 96th minute.

“It’s down to the quality of the players and the character and personality they have to keep going.

“I was pleased with everything. The players deserve immense credit coming off the bad result last week into a game of such magnitude and build-up between two local teams who haven’t played each other for so long.

“I thought they handled the whole occasion. It’s great to see for a derby performance.”

Huddersfield forced five corners in the first 10 minutes as City came under early pressure. But they rode that and never looked back once Pointon finished off a sweeping team move.

Alexander added: “The first goal was brilliant football and we then just became this monster that kept turning the ball over and going at the opposition.

“Games can change on a goal and I think it did change the momentum a little bit. We gained more confidence in our press.

“The second goal was a hammer blow and the third came straight before half-time. It was perfect for us going in at 3-0.

“My concern at that point was whether we’d come off it second half. But we were even more aggressive and more positive in our play.”

Alex Pattison was forced off early with concussion symptoms after the ball smacked him in the face. Aden Baldwin went off in the second half complaining of a knee issue.

City were without Curtis Tilt and Joe Wright – with Alexander admitting Tilt could be facing a potentially lengthy absence.

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