A STEVE Tweddle brace in the opening 15 minutes set Bradford on their way to an impressive victory over Devon outfit Clyst Rovers on Saturday.

But Mark Hodkinson's men had to survive a late fight-back by their relegation-threatened hosts before all three points were finally secured.

After the match a relieved Hodkinson said: "In the second half they really came at us and put us under a lot of pressure. We were hanging on towards the end but that can be expected away from home.

"Clyst are scrapping for their lives and they will fight for every single point.

"I thought we might be down there with them at this stage of the season so I am delighted that we are now in a comfortable mid-table position."

Steve Tweddle fired Bradford ahead after eight minutes when he converted Steve Roddy's fizzing cross from close range.

Tweddle bagged his second goal six minutes later with a brilliant individual effort, beating two defenders before calmly slotting past the Clyst goalkeeper.

Russell Francis latched onto a Nathan Flower through ball two minutes before the break to give the Trowbridge Road outfit a seemingly unassailable lead.

But Clyst found renewed vigour in the second half and pulled a goal back after 55 minutes. Bradford conceded again with 15 minutes to play but the visitors did just enough to hang on.

Said Hodkinson: "Every game will be tough from now until the end of the season because there are three parts to the league now; teams like Clyst who are fighting relegation, the high-flyers like Dawlish looking for promotion and the mid-table sides who want to finish as high as they can.

"I think we are probably safe by now which is great. We have already exceeded our expectations," he said.