Bradford boss Stuart McCall saluted match winner Harry Pritchard as the Bantams substitute earned City a 2-1 Carabao Cup victory over Bolton at the UniBol Stadium.

Pritchard, a 61st-minute replacement for Billy Clarke, produced a decisive angled header from Anthony O’Connor’s cross 15 minutes from time.

Lee Novak fired Bradford in front with a low shot from 10 yards after 26 minutes only for new Trotters skipper Antoni Sarcevic to equalise a minute after the break.

“Heading is a dying art, ” said McCall of Pritchard’s far post finish “Players want to volley the ball or bring it down on their chests.

“I was screaming from he sidelines ‘head it.’ He was actually thinking of bringing it down on his chest and volleying it.”

“If he had I would have fined him two weeks wages!

“It was a fantastic header and Pritchard is good at that. A lot of people expected him to start but we went for Clarkey because of his enthusiastic nature and the way he wants to go about winning games.

“But it was an important win for us. We have been getting a bit of criticism from outside about not bringing in so many players.

“We lost 15 or 16 and brought six in but we have brought the right types in.

“Since day one our application and attitude is top class. And the pleasing thing about the game was losing a goal so early in second half but showing the character to go and get a winner again.”

Ian Evatt, who masterminded Barrow’s National Conference title success last season, described himself as “frustrated” after his first game as Bolton boss.

“We have a lot more to give than that, ” he said.

“We had the majority of possession especially in the first half and started second half really well and scored a good goal.

“We huffed and puffed without creating much more. We came away from what was getting us joy.

“We conceded a really poor goal and it is difficult to get one back in that short space of time.

“When we are not free-scoring and finding it difficult to break teams down we can’t afford to give goals away like that.

“It was a cross into our box unopposed and then a free header in our box when we have more than enough men to cope, so that is not acceptable.

“We controlled majority of the ball but their front two were more difficult to handle than our front two.

“We had too any people under par and we didn’t win enough individual battles. We came away from what was getting us joy.”