Bradford manager Graham Alexander was pleased to get a first away League Two win since October as his side beat bottom-of-the-table Carlisle 1-0 at Brunton Park.
Calum Kavanagh, son of former Carlisle manager Graham, scored the only goal of the game just after half-time and it was enough for the visitors to get the three points, which continued their promotion charge.
“The away win stat is the one that’s most important to me, I think the history of this fixture, not winning here for so long helps the fans to put a lot to bed,” Alexander said.
“If we want to be on track we need to improve our away form, the performances have been good without, obviously, scoring more than the opponents, so today has been a big step forward.
“I think the work that the lads have put in on the training pitch, you saw it all flourish today. It was a real strong professional performance and it’s a brilliant win.”
The win also marked the first time that Bradford have done the double over Carlisle since 1985/86.
Bradford now move on to a pivotal clash with runaway leaders Walsall on Saturday and Alexander understands how tough a test it will be.
He added: “We need to follow this performance up with a good one at Walsall, the league leaders, it will be a really tough fixture.”
After the defeat, Carlisle are still well adrift at the bottom.
Mike Williamson had eight of his nine January signings involved, with Paul Dummett the only one unavailable due to being checked over by a doctor following a car accident, but the Cumbrians still struggled to impose themselves on the game.
He said: “I thought we did really well in the first half, we matched their energy. You’ve got to give them credit, they’re having a good season and are in a good period.
“What was unfortunately frustrating for us is that we continue to switch off at key moments and we gave away an easy goal, which shaped our second half and that was really disappointing.
“Fundamentally you have to earn the right in this game, especially to score goals, as well as clean sheets. We really need to keep our focus in both boxes to get points.”
There were some positives that the Carlisle boss saw in the performance, especially individual efforts from some of his new additions.
Williamson added: “I thought Will Patching was good in the first half, Whelo (Callum Whelan) and Embo (Elliot Embleton) gave their all across the game.”
