FORMER Bantams man Jack Payne scored a 95th-minute penalty as Swindon Town came from behind to beat Bradford City 2-1 at the Utilita Energy Stadium on Saturday.

Gareth Evans volleyed Mark Hughes’ men in front after a barrage of City pressure, only for Harry McKirdy to equalise three minutes later with his 17th goal of the season.

With the game appearing to be heading for a draw, goalkeeper Alex Bass fouled Ellis Iandolo in the box, and that set the stage for Payne to punish his old club with the final kick of the game.

Three points pushed Town back into the play-off places with 12 games remaining.

Ben Garner made two enforced changes to the side that lost 2-1 at home to Salford City a week ago as Louie Barry, thought to be out for a few weeks with an ankle injury, was replaced by Jonny Williams and Joe Tomlinson – who pulled out in the warm-up – dropped out for Akin Odimayo. Payne was fit again but had to make do with a spot on the bench.

Under their new boss, Bradford began like a house on fire and almost scored twice within the opening seven minutes.

First, Jojo Wollacott was forced into a smart save down to his right to deny Caolan Lavery in the second minute. Moments later, the Irishman drove a curling left-footed effort narrowly off target.

Swindon’s stopper endured a busy start when, in the seventh minute, he used his feet once again to turn away Andy Cook’s close-range effort.

The early one-way traffic took a brief respite when McKirdy saw a clever effort turned off the line by Yann Songo’o in the 12th minute. McKirdy drove it his man and curled towards the near post, but an inspired piece of defending from the Bradford number six prevented the game’s opening goal.

Those inside the Utilita Energy Stadium would not have to wait long for said goal, however, as Bradford took the lead in the 18th minute.

A left-wing cross dropped to midfielder Evans – he took it really well from just inside the box, volleying into the bottom right corner past a helpless Wollacott.

But no sooner had the home fans sat down, the away fans were up cheering as McKirdy equalised. Williams played a one-two with Iandolo before crossing low towards McKirdy. Swindon's top scorer netted his 17th of the season with a deft flick at the near post.

The hectic start made way for a more considered approach as the first half wore on – Alex Gilliead was denied by another low save by Wollacott, while up the other end Ricky Aguiar curled wide for Town.

And shortly before the break, Davison missed a guilt-edge chance to put the visitors in front. The striker helped the ball onto McKirdy before busting a gut to make it into the box. When McKirdy crossed, Davison had timed his run to perfection, but he glanced the header wide from six yards out and the teams went in at the break level.

Aguiar sliced a volleyed effort over 10 minutes after half-time, and he went even closer shortly after that when Iandolo crossed towards the back post. With the travelling support ready to roar, Paudie O’Connor scurried back to head it away from danger off the line.

Up the other end, Bradford hit the bar twice in a matter of seconds around the hour mark. First, Matt Foulds headed a corner powerfully against the bar before Songo’o looped an effort on to the woodwork and over.

Inside the final 20 minutes, Town wasted an excellent chance to take the lead after they broke quickly on the counter-attack. Iandolo slotted a great first-time pass through to Davison, and the striker then moved it onto McKirdy to his right, but the pass was a touch wide and McKirdy wasn't able to get a powerful shot off.

Payne’s introduction with 15 minutes to go saw Town switch back to a 5-3-2 formation with players in their more familiar positions. Payne moved the ball onto Aguiar with 10 minutes to play, but the midfielder’s shot from range did not require Bass to move an awful lot in order to catch it.

Shortly after Bass had denied McKirdy from range late on, the goalkeeper made a fatal mistake inside added time when bringing down Iandolo in the box.

Payne calmly stepped up and passed his penalty down the middle as Bass dived away to his left, and Town stole all three points at a ground they had only won at three times in 20 previous attempts.

BCFC starting XI: Bass, O'Connor, Songo'o, Cooke, Cook, Gilliead, Foulds, Evans, Watt, Hendrie, Lavery.

SUBS: O'Donnell, Threlkeld, Kelleher, Robinson, Sutton, Daly, Pereira.

STFC starting XI: Wollacott, Iandolo, Davison, McKirdy, Cooper, O'Brien, Williams, Odimayo, Hunt (C), Reed, Aguiar.

SUBS: Ward, Baudry, Payne, Mitchell-Lawson, East, Parsons.