Derek Adams praised striker Lee Angol after his dramatic last-gasp penalty earned Bradford a 2-1 win over Oldham in the new manager’s first home game in charge in front of a bumper 17,264 crowd.
Angol, who joined the club from Leyton Orient this summer, had given the Bantams a 34th-minute lead when fellow striker Andy Cook flicked Richard O’Donnell’s long goal-kick into his path and he scored with a low shot from 12 yards.
Angol and Cook both missed second-half chances and Dylan Bahamboula appeared to have made them pay when he equalised early in the five minutes of stoppage time with a low shot from just inside the box which was deflected past O’Donnell.
However, in the final minute, Angol was brought down in the penalty area by Carl Piergianni and he stepped up to score from the spot with the last kick of the match.
Adams, who joined Bradford days after guiding Morecambe to promotion to League One at the end of last season, said: “There was a lot of pressure on Lee but he handled it well. He scored a penalty in one of our pre-season games and his confidence is high.
“I thought the players were magnificent and dealt well with what was a huge occasion. Everyone was building up for today and the players dealt with it well.
“Oldham are a difficult side to play against and keep changing their formation and we had to deal with that.
“I thought we needed a second goal and we had umpteen opportunities to kill the game off but the players kept going and got the penalty to win the game.”
Oldham assistant manager Colin West, in charge of the team because manager Keith Curle is isolating, said: “We should have drawn the game because we played some really good football – back to front some excellent play.
“I am happy with the performance, but not with the result. We need to be more aggressive in the penalty area and be a bit more streetwise. We want to keep playing good football, but we want to finish teams off.”
About the penalty, he said: “From where I was I thought he probably clipped him.”