Robins salute with Iron fist

There were fewer than two minutes of the four minutes of stoppage time West Midlands referee Philip Gibbs had added on when a long diagonal ball found Scunthorpe's teenage substitute Hakeeb Adelakun unmarked on the right and his angled shot sneaked in at the far post.

Earlier, Scunthorpe twice had the ball in the net only to see their efforts ruled out and they were denied by a string of fine saves from Bradford's on-loan Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as the visitors dominated the second half.

Robins said: "We were excellent value for at least a point. Anything less and I would have been aggrieved. The second-half performance was fantastic and was really what we want to be all about.

"We were attacking at will and created all sorts of chances and the keeper made some last-ditch saves and to come away with a point was the least we deserved."

Robins acknowledged his side showed few signs of tiredness following their marathon 14-13 penalty shoot-out win at Worcester in a midweek FA Cup seciod-round replay.

The former Barnsley and Huddersfield boss, whose side have lost only one in their last 12 games, said: "In the first half we gave the ball away with too many direct balls and Bradford got more possession than they ought to have done, but in the second half we were absolutely magnificent.

"Bradford are on a really good run, but we know what we are capable of and we showed energy and desire and were full of confidence."

Bradford went in front after 32 minutes with a goal from defender Rory McArdle. Billy Clarke crossed for Filipe Morais whose shot was blocked and Jon Stead played the ball back for McArdle to score from the edge of the penalty area.

Bradford, unbeaten in seven matches, had Pickford to thank for superb saves from Richard Brindley, Luke Williams, Gary McSheffrey and Madden to deny the visitors.

Manager Phil Parkinson said: "It was probably his best game for us. He is a very good keeper.

"I thought we played some good stuff in the first half, but in the second half we just couldn't get out of our own half.

"We didn't play with enough quality and we got pinned in our own half, but give Scunthorpe credit.

"They are on a terrific run and played really well. They have spent a lot of money on strikers and that showed.

"Our keeper has had too many saves to make. He was terrific and there were some great defensive performances around him.

"For instance, Rory McArdle's performance was absolutely outstanding and he produced a great finish to put us in front.

"You always want to win your home games. We gave everything we had, but we didn't play well enough in the second half to kill off the game.

"We were under pressure and when we got the ball away we were so tired from defending we didn't have enough quality to do anything with it, but our momentum is still there.

"It is frustrating to concede a late goal, but we take disappointments together and we can't take it away from Scunthorpe."