Notts County 0 Bradford City 1 (AET)
The Bantams left Nottingham this evening with a deserved place in The Capital One Cup 2nd round as they triumphed over Keith Curle's Notts County at Meadow Lane.
Phil Parkinson's men were undoubtedly deemed as underdogs going into the game, but they were quick out of the traps and were on top of the hosts in the early stages.
Alan Connell was using his intelligence to link up well with other attacking players; the first decent Bradford chance of the game belonged to Garry Thompson, after Connell cleverly squeezed the ball round a defender.
The ball found its way to Thompson who's shot was firm but well held by opposing keeper Bartosz Bialkowski.
City were beginning to feed Kyel Reid plenty of the ball in the final third, which was causing desperation amongst the County back line.
In the latter stages of the half Notts were doing well to keep hold of the ball in large patches; they were starting to try and force an opening, and the first goal almost came when Alan Sheehan's well hit effort frm inside the area crashed against the post.
City began the second half how they began the first, again trying to overrun their League 1 opponents. Kyel Reid began to be the obvious main threat going forward and he almost grabbed a goal when his cross-shot was fisted away by Bialkowski from under the crossbar; Reid was also giving home full back Carl Regan a torrid time on many occasions, forcing him into a challenge that was deemed worthy of a yellow card.
As the half progressed County were going at City again, in search of the opening goal. Alan Sheehan's crosses were causing the fans to hold their breath, with the likes of Francois Zoko and Lee Hughes constantly present in the area.
Both team were looking tired and gaps were beginning to form in both teams' defences. City were going for the throat late on, counter attacking with pace through Kyel Reid, Nahki Wells and Adam Baker, but it was the hosts who should've sealed victory in the 3rd minute of injury time. Lee Hughes angled a low shot towards goal, and the rebound from Duke's party was looped against the bar by Yoann Arquin, with the goal gaping; seconds later Arquin was thwarted once again, this time by Matt Duke as the Frenchman planted a shot towards the bottom corner.
The teams couldn't be separated after 90 minutes, so extra time was required.
Barely 5 minutes into extra time, City took the lead. Kyel Reid got the better of Carl Regan, before feeding Nahki Wells who subsequently laid off the on rushing James Hanson to delightfully sweep a first time shot into the top corner from the edge of the area.
In the second half of extra time Curle's men hustled and harried to try and equalise but despite being scrutinised by the hosts, City's impressive back line stood firm and sealed their place in the draw for the next round.