JACK Midson bagged a brace of penalties to reach the 20-goal mark as AFC Wimbledon took another massive step towards League Two safety with victory over the 10-man Bantams.
The 29-year-old gave them the lead, only for Pim Balkestein's unfortunate own goal to level matters moments later.
Bradord then had skipper Craig Fagan red-carded before second-half goals from Billy Knott and Midson wrapped up the points.
The Dons had a let off in the opening minutes when Nahki Wells beat the offside trap, only to be denied by the onrushing Seb Brown.
The keeper was called into action again on 15 minutes when he dived full-stretch to his left to parry David Syers' long-ranger.
At the other end, Knott fired over after a mazy run while Jason Euell shot tamely at John McLaughlin.
However, the Dons were handed golden chance to take the lead just after the half-hour mark when Knott was bundled over by Rob Kozluk.
Leading scorer Midson stepped up to squeeze his pot kick beyond McLaughlin into the bottom left-hand corner.
But Wimbledon's advantage lasted just four minutes as Craig Fagan's cross was deflected into his own net by Brentford loanee Balkestein.
Bradford captain Fagan turned from hero to zero for the Bantams inside 60 seconds as he was given sent-off for a second booking after kicking the ball into the Kingsmeadow crowd.
The Dons were camped in the visitors' half after the break, and they made their man advantage count on 54 minutes.
Euell played in Sam Hatton down the right, who lofted the ball across for Knott to power a header home from six yards.
The hosts added a third 15 minutes from time after Luke Oliver hauled down Euell in the box.
Midson stepped up to send McLaughlin the wrong way from 12 yards to give Wimbledon a two-goal cushion.
Syers almost halved the deficit almost immediately when he crashed a header at the bar as Bradford piled men forward.
But the Dons held on for another vital win to pull clear of the drop zone.
DONS: Brown, Hatton, Mitchel-King, Balkestein, Gwillim, S Moore, Moncur, Yussuff (Jolley), Knott (Djilali), Euell (L Moore), Midson.
Subs (not used): Turner, Johnson.
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