Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Club News

McCALL |MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

2 December 2017

Club News

McCALL |MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

2 December 2017

Bantams boss Stuart McCall was pleased to see his City side get the job done following their 3-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle in the Emirates FA Cup second round.

Goals from Romain Vincelot, Nathaniel Knight-Percival and Charlie Wyke helped to book the Bantams' place in the prized FA Cup third round draw.

After a tight league encounter between the two sides just three weeks ago, both sides engineered a number of scoring opportunites in an open and entertaining tie this Saturday.

With the Bantams denied more goals thanks to four smart stops from visiting 'keeper Luke McCormick, McCall is in no doubt that City deserved to progress in the competition.

Showing his intentions from the off, McCall only made one change to his side from the starting XI at Shrewsbury Town last weekend - Tyrell Robinson coming in at left-back for Luke Hendrie.

He said: "It is mission accomplished really in terms of getting ourselves into the hat for that third round draw.

"It was an open game, I think us getting the first goal certainly helped because it meant they had to go for it a bit more.

"Plymouth probably created more chances in this game than they did in the league game, but we've played some good stuff and deserved to go through.

"We've scored at key moments. Scoring first, scoring straight after half time, and then scoring straight after they pull a goal back.

"We'd worked this week on playing Romain (Vincelot) almost as a number ten, especially when crosses are coming into their box.

"We knew we'd have a lot of possession so we wanted him in the box because we know he's probably one of the best attackers of the ball in the air, along with Charlie, that we've got in the team.

"Macca's (Tony McMahon) cross is a great one and Romain's leap and the timing of his run is fantastic.

"It is nice when something you work on during the week on the training pitch pays off.

"We know Tyrell (Robinson) is more of an offensive player rather than defensive, but we thought we'd have a lot of the ball and we wanted that extra threat down that left-hand side.

"Graham Carey, who plays on their right, normally drifts in-field as well so we thought Tyrell might not have to do as much defending as he would against an out-an-out winger.

"It was an ideal game for him to come into then really, and I thought he took his chance well and showed some good confidence."

The Plymouth win was City's third in their last four league and cup games, but there was the sight of Jake Reeves limping off midway through the second period to potentially give the Bantams some concern.

McCall added: "He slipped in the middle of the park. He turned one direction and his leg went the other way.

"Hopefully it is just a little tweak. He did it prior to them scoring and we got him off as quick as we could.

"We are hopeful that it can settle down in two or three days, but you never know.

"It is certainly something we'll have to look into in the next 48 hours or so."

Monday's third round draw will now, of course, see the Premier League and Championship sides enter the Emirates FA Cup for the first time this season.

City will be ball number 57 in the draw on Monday evening.

McCall added: "You'd normally prefer a home match but we'll take an away tie as well the way we are playing away from home the moment.

"Obviously a lot of people will want a match against a Premier League side, but a tie that will give us a chance to progress would be the main thing for me."


Advertisement block

iFollow Next Match Tickets Contact