Northampton Town 1 Bradford City 1
The Bantams face yet another midweek game to add to their already busy fixture schedule as they left Sixfields Stadium for the second time in just over a week, this time with only a draw under their belt to keep themselves in the hat for The Second Round.
Adebayo Akinfenwa was to be the main attacking threat this afternoon, and a chance came his way early on when Joe Widdowson got the better of Stephen Darby to get a cross in but Akinfenwa's header was held well by Matt Duke.
City's first decent chance of the game came when Scott Brown's angled pass was nodded down into the path of Alan Connell by Garry Thompson; Connell subsequently fired a half volley over the bar from the edge of the area.
Duke was again on hand to deny the hosts; Hackett laid Danny East off for a cross and his delivery was headed towards goal by Louis Moult and City's stopper pulled off a superb reaction save.
Two minutes later, Northampton were pressing again. A corner found East in space and he produced a clever back heel that allowed Chris Hackett to hammer a shot towards goal, Matt Duke got across his goalmouth to thwart him.
In the 32nd minute, City went ahead. Attacking effectively on this occasion, Gary Jones played the ball wide to Alan Connell who teased the full back and pulled the ball back for Will Atkinson to plant a shot into the bottom corner.
Northampton fans thought they'd scored when a delivery caused chaos in City's area, Duke punched the ball but it hit a couple of players before rustling the side netting.
Five minutes later though, the hosts did equalise. After keeping the ball well, Ben Tozer spread the ball wide to Danny East who crossed for Louis Moult to bullet a header into the bottom corner.
City fans were on their feet as the ball squirmed agonisingly wide of the mark. Ritchie Jones found Alan Connell who unleashed a shot, Kelvin Langmead blocked the effort but caused the ball to go close with keeper Shane Higgs stranded.
Man of the match Kelvin Langmead was looking nervy upon the introduction of Nahki Wells and once James Hanson had capitalised on his mistake he sent the Bermudian through but his firm shot was beaten away by Higgs.
Four minutes from time, The Bantams thought they had a penalty kick when Wells was bundled over as he looked to find the loose ball in the area. The appeal was waved away much to the frustration of the 280 or so City fans behind the goal.
The full time whistle confirmed Bradford City and Northampton Town would be playing each other for the THIRD time in around 3 weeks!