After being dumped out of the FA Cup in a penalty shoot-out on Thursday night, County had to dig deep to salvage a point after City's leading scorer Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu fired the home side ahead after 71 minutes.
After a miserable first half the visitors looked the more threatening especially when Paul Heckingbottom was sent off in the 53rd minute for a dubious second bookable offence. Despite the red card, Ndumbu-Nsungu's bolt from the blue had looked to have secured an unlikely victory for the Bantams.
City had barely tested County keeper Conrad Logan, but 16 minutes after Heckingbottom's departure the powerful striker shrugged off his marker before firing home a low right-foot shot from the edge of the County box.
The visitors must have thought their luck was out after a remarkable start to the second half.
In their first attack after the break, striker Liam Dickinson did well to hold the ball up in the Bradford box and, when he forced the ball through to Tommy Rowe, the winger looked odds-on to score.
However City's Jamaican keeper Donovan Ricketts blocked the close-range shot with his legs, but he rode his luck minutes later when he flapped at a corner.
With Ricketts all at sea, Dickinson drilled in a goal-bound half-volley only to see his shot hit the back of fellow striker Peter Thorne who was bizarrely on the goal-line facing the net.
For the second home game in a row City were forced to play with 10 men after Heckingbottom was harshly dismissed for a clumsy challenge. Minutes later Dickinson was denied again, by another superb save by Ricketts.
Stuart McCall shuffled his line-up which in fact improved their attacking options with Omar Daley going close with a near-post strike that was saved by Logan.
Almost immediately after the fourth official held up his board indicating five extra minutes, Poole popped up to volley home the leveller.
The winger, who had looked threatening out on the right, was on the spot to fire in a stunning right-foot volley as City's defenders were caught flat-footed and this time Ricketts got nowhere near his well-placed 12-yard effort.