LONDON — Bradford City’s manager was in dreamland and the League Two club’s chairman said he would have to start learning languages after they stunned Aston Villa 4-3 on aggregate in the League Cup semi-final on Tuesday.
Report by Reuters
Despite a 2-1 loss at Villa Park, Bradford held on to become the first fourth tier club to reach a major English cup final since Rochdale lost to Norwich City in the League Cup in 1962.
At the final whistle Bradford’s mixture of youngsters and grizzled old professionals celebrated wildly on the pitch while the joy of their 6 000 travelling fans was unrestrained.
It was a harrowing night for Premier League strugglers Villa, however, as they sloped off to contemplate the rest of the season fighting to avoid relegation.
Question marks will inevitably be raised about the future of manager Paul Lambert, who agreed his side’s defeat to Bradford was “embarrassing”.
It was Bradford’s night though and a triumph for a club who have spent most of their history languishing in the wilderness and who have twice been close to going out of business after a brief and costly flirtation with the Premier League.
“It is dreamland,” said their manager Phil Parkinson. “The lads were absolutely fantastic and what it means for the club and the city is absolutely tremendous.
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“We knew we could hurt them on set plays. We looked at the stats, at how many they have conceded and we worked hard on it. “It’s a moment to savour, it was an extraordinary feeling when the whistle went.”
Victory against either Swansea City or Chelsea at Wembley on February 24 would earn Bradford a place in Europe for the first time since they appeared in the now defunct Intertoto Cup in 2000.
“If we get into Europe I’ll have to start learning some languages!” Bradford chairman Mark Lawn said.
