Why the playing legend had to keep his distance from former club…

The big striker came off the bench for the last half hour of City’s hard-fought win at the Priestfield Stadium.

It was a result that meant a lot to Oliver, who scored 31 goals in two seasons at the Kent club before joining the Bantams.

And it rewarded his own sacrifice to get on the pitch in the first place.

Oliver had been suffering from a 24-hour illness that had been affecting the squad last week and made the long trip south under his own steam.

“Vadaine drove down on his own on Friday and stayed away from the rest of the team completely until we got to the ground,” said boss Graham Alexander.

“He’d had an illness and a couple of other players had missed a day’s training with the same thing.

“We were giving everyone the opportunity until we got down there and got to Saturday to see how they felt about being involved.

“It was a great effort from him. He could have cried off and said he was poorly.

“But he travelled down on his own and then stayed isolated from us in the hotel to give himself the best chance.

“He wants to play anyway, regardless of the game, but every player holds that flame going back to your former club and wants to perform.

“But I’m sure he would have put the same effort into whoever we were playing.

“He’s missed a lot of football so he wants to catch up. It’s important he was ready, and he was back on the training pitch for us yesterday, playing in an 11 v 11.”

Oliver had been ruled out of City’s previous trip to Gillingham with the knee injury that was operated on at the end of last season. So he was extra keen not to miss out once again.

Alexander added, “Vadaine played a part in us winning the game. He gave us an outlet.

“Cooky (Andy Cook) and Tyler (Smith) ran themselves into the ground. I brought Vadaine on for Tyler to give us a bit more physical presence and then Manny (Emmanuel Osadebe) came on to play off him.

“I believe every sub that has come on in our time here has made a really good effort to help us get a result. They’ve all impacted the performance in a positive way.”