Bradford City 1 Burton Albion 0: Return to Wembley fixed in the sights of ‘delighted’ Parkinson

Bradford reached the Capital One League Cup final only to crash 5-0 against Premier League side Swansea and, coupled with a loss of form in the league, their hopes of securing a play-off place looked slender after losing 4-1 at rivals Exeter five weeks ago.

But they have earned 17 points in the eight matches since then to make sure of finishing in the top seven.

“It has been a fantastic turnaround since Exeter,” said Parkinson.

“We were five games unbeaten going into the Exeter match, but after we lost that game we had the players in on the Sunday to watch the video and told them what we had got to do to get where we wanted to be.

“The lads have been terrific and now we have got the chance to go to Wembley twice in the same season.”

This was Bradford’s 60th game of a demanding season, but Parkinson said: “After so many games we have players who are in good form like James Hanson, Nahki Wells, Garry Thompson and our captain Gary Jones, who was outstanding today.

“Mentally and physically we feel we are well-prepared for the play-offs.”

Hanson scored the decisive goal a minute before half-time after the visitors’ defence failed to deal with a long through ball from Ricky Ravenhill.

Wells chased the ball and managed to get in a shot which goalkeeper Dean Lyness couldn’t hold and when Marcus Holness failed to clear, Hanson was able to loop the ball into the net.

Burton, who began the match in fourth place, were reduced to 10 men in first-half stoppage time when captain Lee Bell was sent off for a foul on Bradford substitute, winger Zavon Hines.

They rarely threatened a strong Bradford defence in the second half and the home side should have scored a second goal towards the end when substitute Alan Connell laid the ball into the path of Hines. But he could only shoot wide when he could have squared the ball to the unmarked Hanson.

Bradford City: McLaughlin, Darby, McArdle, Nelson, Meredith, Thompson (Atkinson 78mins), Ravenhill, Jones, Reid (Hines 19mins), Hanson, Wells (Connell 68mins). Unused substitutes: Duke (gk), Gray, McHugh, Doyle.

Burton Albion: Lyness, O’Connor, Sharps, Holness, McCory, McDonald, Weir, Bell, Maghoma, Paterson (Dyer half time, Symes 76mins), Zola (Kee 59mins). Unused substitutes: Tomlinson (gk), Webster, Diamond, Drury.

Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northampton)

Bantams man of the match: Gary Jones.