Bradford are still alive, Wimbledon merely livid. After dominating much of a tense, scrappy match yesterday Wimbledon went home with their Premiership status looking more precarious than ever.

A bizarre sequence of events led to a Bradford win which sent Wimbledon into the bottom three for the first time this season and Paul Jewell's team up to a place of safety for the first time this century. Now, whatever Wimbledon do, Bradford will stay up if they win their last two games.

Not that the denouement is likely to be that simple. For one thing Wimbledon have the easier fixtures: at home to an Aston Villa side with the FA Cup final on their minds, followed by sleepy Southampton at the Dell. Bradford go to Leicester before Liverpool visit Valley Parade.

In addition, a smouldering sense of injustice at the manner of this defeat may provide the spur Wimbledon need.

Shortly before half-time they fell behind to a home-town penalty which suggested the contest had been promoted by Don King. Early in the second half Bradford scored again, admittedly after a bad goalkeeping error by Neil Sullivan, but with Wimbledon convinced they should have had a free-kick for handball.

In the ensuing shemozzle John Hartson was sent off by Jeff Winter for foul and abusive language, and although Wimbledon still looked the superior side, even with 10 men, slack defending helped Bradford put the match beyond reach.

This was Wimbledon's eighth successive league defeat. To a large extent they have dug the deepening hole in which they find themselves. Yet their approach to this game was much more like the Wimbledon of old, with an emphasis on working the ball swiftly down the flanks and peppering the opposing goalmouth with crosses; they forced a dozen corners to Bradford's three.

Wimbledon should have gone ahead after 19 minutes when Matt Clarke failed to reach a corner from Michael Hughes and the ball fell to Jason Euell, who with all the goal to aim at lifted his shot high. On the half-hour Clarke missed another corner and again the chance fell to Euell, who this time failed to make proper contact.

Bradford's first significant opportunity did not arrive until nine minutes before half-time when Dean Saunders, exploiting a lucky ricochet off the referee, outpaced the Wimbledon defence only to see Sullivan deflect his shot wide.

Then came the moment that may yet help to keep Bradford up and leave Wimbledon to contemplate life in the Nationwide League. As Ben Thatcher went to block Saunders, the striker volleyed the ball against the defender and appealed for a corner. But on the sayso of a linesman, Ralph Bone from Orpington, the referee awarded Bradford a penalty from which Peter Beagrie scored.

Television replays showed that the ball had struck Thatcher on the upper arm from a distance of mere inches and that the defender, trying to keep his hands out of the way, had adopted a pose akin to the Venus de Milo. Wimbledon, therefore, were entitled to grumble, although it was a combination of indiscipline and incompetence which led to Bradford's second goal.

Certainly Wayne Jacobs appeared to handle the ball before releasing Beagrie, who turned inside a defender before seeing his low, bouncing shot beat Sullivan too easily. But as Terry Burton, Wimbledon's assistant manager, said later: "No matter how bad the decision, you have to keep playing, and our players should have played on." Not so Hartson, who was immediately dismissed for badmouthing the other linesman. "I'm sorry to get sent off but I can't help what I am," he explained . "I went across to the linesman to tell him it was a disgrace. Two scandalous decisions like that could cost us our Premier League status." It could be argued that the bigger scandal was Hartson's behaviour, since his presence was vital to Wimbledon's hopes of saving the game.

As it was, their last chance disappeared seven minutes from the end when Dean Windass beat first Thatcher and then the advancing Sullivan before scoring from a tight angle, no Wimbledon player bothering to mount guard on the line.

Bradford: Clarke, Halle, Wetherall, O'Brien, Jacobs, Windass, McCall, Dreyer, Beagrie, Saunders, Blake (Westwood 67). Subs Not Used: Wright, Sharpe, Rankin, Davison. Goals: Beagrie 43 pen, 50, Windass 83.

Wimbledon: Sullivan, Cunningham, Blackwell (Gayle 62), Thatcher, Hreidarsson, Euell, Ardley, Hughes, Andersen, Cort, Hartson. Subs Not Used: Heald, Lund, Jupp, Roberts. Sent Off: Hartson (50). Booked: Sullivan, Andersen, Hughes.

Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).