February 2011: CITY 3 (Williams 14, 74; Evans 90) STOCKPORT 2 (Turnbull 27, Doble 40)

GARETH Evans had scanned YouTube for the goal without success.

There was footage of Steve Williams netting one of his brace but no sign on the web of the dramatic moment that won it - the last time he scored in a City shirt.

So in his first full week back at the Bantams, Evans will have to make do with a nostalgic report of a game that nobody who was there will ever forget.

Season 2010-2011 was as miserable as they get for following City. The fact that a 1-1 draw at Hereford was celebrated like a major cup win by Peter Jackson for keeping the club in the Football League says it all.

Two months earlier, Jackson had been in the stand watching the team he would be taking over on a caretaker basis the next day.

Peter Taylor had announced that his year-long spell at the Valley Parade helm was coming to an end. He had arrived with big hopes of that elusive promotion but it failed to materialise.

Instead the Bantams bobbed about the League Two table, fluttering briefly towards the edge of the play-offs only to plummet far too near the wrong end for comfort.

Taylor’s final game – two days after the revelation that he would be leaving – had assumed a “must-win” status.

City, in a miserable 21st, hosted Stockport, who were two places and six points beneath them. Defeat was unthinkable.

The crowd of 15,332 was the biggest in four years – lured by a £1 ticket offer to put bums on seats. They witnessed a nerve-jangling afternoon.

Taylor’s 50th and final league appearance as City boss was arguably the most entertaining of a dour time. But it was certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Centre half Williams was in the thick of it – but not always for the right reasons.

It had started well for him and for City when he headed the opening goal on 14 minutes.

But then a Williams blunder gifted the ball to Stockport skipper Paul Turnbull to drive home the equaliser.

Stockport's defence lived up to its reputation as the worst in the country with a series of goalmouth scrambles but the ball wouldn't go in.

Then they give City a leg-up when Adam Griffin was sent off just after the half hour for handling on the line.

James Hanson took the ball off captain Michael Flynn to take the penalty – but Matt Glennon, one of the first players to be jettisoned from the club in Taylor’s reign, read the spot-kick and comfortably pushed it away.

Hanson would never take a penalty for City again.

The fragile mood around the ground threatened to disintegrate further when Williams stepped up a fraction late to play offside, allowing Ryan Double through on goal.

Lenny Pidgeley should have gathered the ball as he slid towards the edge of the box but instead allowed it through him and presented the striker with an easy finish.

Evans and Jake Speight were summoned from the bench to add some bite – before Stockport then lost a second man as Ryan Doble was red-carded for smashing his elbow into Luke Oliver’s face.

City were hammering away desperately at the nine men as Speight’s shot deflected against the inside of the post.

And with 15 minutes left, they were back on terms. Robbie Threlfall's corner was nodded across goal by Hanson and back again by David Syers and Williams delivered an emphatic final touch.

With the volume approaching fever pitch, City laid late seige on the Stockport goal. Chances came and went; shots were snatched in the rising panic.

Then, four minutes into the five of added time, a hopeful drive from Luke O'Brien cannoned back off a defender and sat up nicely for Evans to sweep home from long range.

The substitute whipped off his shirt in frenzied celebration as Valley Parade erupted with relief as much as joy. City had earned a dramatic reprieve from being sucked into immediate danger.

The sponsors announced Williams as their man of the match – which drew a final barb from the out-going manager.

"If Steve Williams gets man of the match then there's something wrong with this game, " smiled Taylor. "I'm delighted he got two goals but defensively he was awful. It was like me out there!"

CITY: Pidgeley, Hunt, Williams, Oliver (Threlfall 71), O’Brien, Flynn, Adeyemi (Speight 46), Bullock (Evans 46), Syers, Ellison, Hanson.

STOCKPORT: Glennon, Halls, O’Donnell, Brown, Griffin, Goodall, Doble, Turnbull, Poole (Tansey 68), Wallace (Assoumani 78), Paterson (Elding 79).

REFEREE: Trevor Kettle.

ATTENDANCE: 15,332.