Doncaster Rovers' promotion rivals Bradford City suffer big blow ahead of looming Yorkshire derby

The Bantams were involved in a spectacular nine-goal clash away at Swindon Town - at the same time as Rovers' 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon was unfolding.

Graham Alexander's side entered the clash sitting top of League Two and things looked rosy for them when Calum Kavanagh scored twice inside the first ten minutes. But then came one of the game's many flashpoints when Bradford midfielder Richie Smallwood was shown a straight red for an x-rated challenge on Swindon's Paul Glatzel.

City would remarkably go on to lead again, 3-1 and 4-3 before a superb Swindon turnaround saw them win it in the 95th minute via an own goal. The sending-off of Smallwood could hit Bradford especially hard given he had started every single league game so far this term.

Alexander refused to specifically discuss the midfielder's dismissal post-match but the veteran is now set to miss three games as is per the terms of a straight red card for violent conduct. That means he'll sit out their home game with Notts County on Thursday, their trip to Chesterfield on Easter Monday and then the humdinger against Rovers in DN4 on April 26.

Alexander said: "Richie’s red card changed the game and though I haven’t seen it back again, I see challenges like that in the middle of the park week in, week out. You see bookings for certain things, and not even free-kicks for others. But that’s enough said on that side of the game, I’m not going down that rabbit hole.

"It’s difficult to be honest in these interviews and if I can’t be honest, I’d rather not talk."

Other results on Saturday saw Port Vale go top of the league after a 5-0 destruction of Bromley, whilst faltering Walsall lost 2-0 at Barrow. Rovers can go above both Bradford and the Saddlers if they win at Salford in their game in hand on Tuesday night.