Jess strike brings reward for composed Bradford

Bradford set themselves up for their fixture on Friday with their former Premiership colleagues Coventry City with a 1-0 victory at Portsmouth to go top of the First Division on Saturday

A second successive victory for the Bantams came courtesy of Eion Jess's 71st-minute goal on an afternoon when the home fans paid tribute to goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan following his death in a car crash.

The Bradford manager, Jim Jefferies, was delighted with the way his players handled themselves in tough circumstances. "We had to come to Portsmouth and do the business and get the points if at all possible in difficult circumstances," he said.

"It is an emotional time for Portsmouth and we had to join in by paying our respects as well, as was appropriate."

Jess settled the contest when Ashley Ward crossed from the right and the former Aberdeen player leaped to head past Dave Beasant.

"We need to impose ourselves in matches but when we realised it was not going to be our day in front of goal we should have settled for a 0-0," said the Portsmouth manager, Graham Rix. "Our goalkeeper had only one shot to save and that came from a mistake. But it was another mistake which cost us dearly today.

"I hope the crowd have not gone home too disappointed. They came to pay their respects to Aaron Flahavan but we could not mark the occasion with a win."

Crystal Palace maintained their unbeaten start to the new season with a 4-1 victory at home to Stockport County.

After a dour first half the game came to life after the break with Aki Riihilahti netting on 53 minutes. Although Karim Fradin levelled for County, the Selhurst Park side played with style, and two goals from the new Republic of Ireland striker Clinton Morrison and one from Dougie Freedman completed a fine afternoon for the Palace manager Steve Bruce.

The County manager Andy Kilner believed the game changed when Aaron Wilbraham was sent off after appearing to elbow Rihilahti. "Up until the referee intervened with the sending-off, we were the better side," he said.

"I think 4-1 flattered them and Crystal Palace didn't create anything in the first-half, while we looked likely to score."

Bruce, not surprisingly, did not agree. "At the time of the sending-off we were playing the better football and I didn't think Stockport going down to 10 men would have made any difference," he said. Palace, meanwhile, hope to complete the signing of the Australian defender Tony Popovic in the next few days.

Burnley recorded a second successive win, but they cannot expect to meet a goalkeeper as generous as Wimbledon's Kelvin Davis every week. His jittery performance was the main reason why the Dons headed home from Turf Moor pointless after a 3-2 defeat. Davis gifted Burnley two of their three goals and was a bundle of nerves during a first half laden with mistakes.

Grimsby defied their pre-season position as favourites for relegation with their second win in two matches, Alan Pouton's penalty in the 77th minute condemning West Bromwich to their second successive defeat. Grimsby's Danny Coyne saved a Bob Taylor penalty in the 48th minute.