Bantams boss proud of giant-killing cup spot-kick win over Arsenal

Wednesday, December 12, 2012
8:15 AM

Bradford boss Phil Parkinson said his players - who won their ninth successive penalty shoot-out - should be given credit for out-performing a full-strength Arsenal side.

Garry Thompson put the Bantams in front after 16 minutes and they were temporarily denied their place in giant-killing history when Thomas Vermaelen equalised for the north Londoners with three minutes remaining.

The sides couldn’t be separated through half an hour of extra time, though Bradford’s woodwork was rattled, so the contest went to spot-kicks, where Santi Cazorla, Marouane Chamakh and Vermaelen all missed to help send the League Two side into the League Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history.

Parkinson said: “I don’t think the enormity of our achievement has quite sunk in. When get up tomorrow morning and see the headlines in the newspapers they will realise what they have done.

“There is a big gulf between the two teams in terms of finances and places in the divisions.

“I don’t want the talk to be about the penalties, I want it to be about the performance. Arsenal have played their best team tonight and we were three minutes away from beating them, then we have had the setback of conceding a goal and had to dig deep again in extra time.

“I hope this can be the first of many nights like this for Bradford City. We want to put Bradford on the map again. I want them to have a team to be proud of.”

Midfielder Gary Jones, a scorer in the shoot-out, called it “one of the best nights of my life” before adding: “I can’t believe we’ve just knocked Arsenal out of the Capital One Cup. It was 11 v 11 and we had to keep our shape and frustrate them.”

Goalkeeper Matt Duke saved a penalty from Cazorla and said: “We set our stall out and the men in front of me were fantastic. We are really fit as a team and that showed.”