Losing to League One opposition was bad enough, but the result at Valley Parade paled into insignificance compared to the first-half injuries suffered by Alex Bangura and Riley McGree.
Both players have been plagued by serious injury issues in the last couple of seasons, so the sight of them signalling to the bench in order to be substituted was especially alarming with the start of the Championship season just two-and-a-half weeks away.
Boro are yet to make a single signing this summer – a deal for Hull City defender Alfie Jones is understood to be extremely close to being agreed – so Rob Edwards could ill afford to lose anyone from his squad.
Bangura and McGree will no doubt be assessed in the next 24 hours, but the initial signs were far from positive as they hobbled down the touchline towards the tunnel at half-time.
Having been a second-half substitute in Saturday’s friendly at Mansfield, Bangura was restored to the starting line-up for the first time in more than a year, but his night ended prematurely in alarming fashion.
Eleven minutes in, the full-back stretched to try to prevent Josh Neufville from running past him close to the byline, but it was immediately apparent that something was wrong.
Bangura immediately signalled that he needed to be replaced, and as he became visibly upset, his team-mates came over to console him.
He was able to gingerly walk along the touchline, but from the way that Rob Edwards placed an arm around his shoulder, the obvious fear is that he has suffered a recurrence of the Achilles injury that ruled him out of the whole of last season.
Understandably, Bangura’s injury seemed to deflate his team-mates, who lined up with three centre-halves and wing-backs for the second game in a row.
Rav van den Berg, who was selected in the starting XI despite the ongoing transfer interest from Feyenoord, played alongside Dael Fry and Darragh Lenihan, with Neto Borges replacing Bangura on the left and Sammy Silvera playing at right wing-back.
McGree and Morgan Whittaker were tucked inside, supporting Tommy Conway, but the latter became Boro’s second injury victim of the night shortly before the interval.
McGree is another player who struggled with injury issues for most of last season, and the Australian’s curse struck again as he appeared to suffer a muscular problem.
Like Bangura, he signalled to the bench that he needed to come off; like Bangura, he was visibly frustrated as he trudged towards the touchline.
On the pitch, the action was thoroughly unremarkable, and while Whittaker displayed flashes of invention playing off Tommy Conway, Boro fell behind one minute before the break.
Lenihan was adjudged to have tugged down Joe Wright in the area, and Antoni Sarcevic stepped up to slam his spot-kick past Tom Glover.
Edwards made three changes at the break, with Luke Ayling replacing van den Berg at centre-half, McCormick coming on to play at left wing-back and Forss replacing Conway in attack.
McCormick flashed a low drive narrowly past the post within five minutes of coming onto the field, before Forss also failed to find the target with a similar effort from the edge of the 18-yard box.
Bradford almost claimed a second goal with three minutes remaining, but Sol Brynn came off his line to make a fine double save from an unmarked Alex Pattison.
However, the Boro goalkeeper was powerless to prevent the Bantams claiming a second goal in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time. Will Swan was left unmarked on the right of the box, and the Bradford substitute slipped a low shot through Brynn’s legs.
MIDDLESBROUGH (3-4-3): Glover (Brynn 71); van den Berg (Ayling 46), Fry (McCabe 62), Lenihan (McCormick 46); Silvera (Finch 62), Morris (Barlaser 62), Hackney (Hamilton 62), Bangura (Borges 11); Whittaker (Gilbert 62), Conway (Forss 46), McGree (Burgzorg 38).
