Bradford City boss Mark Hughes allays Jamie Walker fears following a record-breaking night for the Bantams

A crowd of 20,575 - a record for a play-off semi at fourth tier level - saw City secure a slender advantage thanks to Jamie Walker's 18th-minute strike.

But the tie remains firmly in the melting point with Carlisle being the better side on the restart with the hosts under pressure for fair spells.

On his first experience of the play-offs in his long football career, Hughes, whose side head to Brunton Park for the second leg on Saturday, said: "The atmosphere was incredible. In terms of the league, it was a great representation of League Two football.

"Both sets of fans were fantastic and added to the atmosphere and really enjoyed being part of it. It was excellent.

"We are pleased with how the game panned out and obviously the result is important for us. We know we are going to have a really difficult second leg that we have to navigate.

"But I thought we were excellent in the first half and we really took the game to Carlisle and won the 50-50s balls.

"The second half bypassed us a little bit.

"We have got the advantage, albeit by just one goal. We will go there and be positive and we know we cause Carlisle, who are a good team, some problems."

Meanwhile, Hughes allayed fears of an injury for Walker, who went down with a shin injury in the first half and also suffered a slight bang on the head.

Hughes added: "He had a slight bang on his head, but we were more concerned with the bang he had on his shin in the first half. But Jamie bounces back from most things and we fully expect him to be okay."