Sheffield United v Bradford City: Parkinson keen to end the inconsistency at Bradford

Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town have already fallen foul of the ice-cold nerve displayed by Bantams players in the shoot-out lottery this season.

And ahead of tonight’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy northern section quarter-final, a third Yorkshire victim lies in wait in Sheffield United, in front of the television cameras at Bramall Lane.

“If we have to go to penalties then we are confident that we can come through after doing so in the last two rounds,” said Bradford manager Phil Parkinson, an impish grin creeping onto his face when asked if his side had practiced spot-kicks. “Key individuals take them of their own accord after training, but after the practice we’ve had at them in the last two rounds, we’re confident.”

The Blades have been warned. League One promotion-chasers from just down the road have become the regular prey for City this season.

And with Danny Wilson yesterday pouring cold water on reports linking United with a move for Manchester United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuzczak amid a deepening crisis of confidence between the sticks, such self-belief in their accuracy from 12 yards from their West Yorkshire rivals will not sit well.

Bradford’s problem, though, has been the 90 minutes of football beforehand. When they haven’t matched the Owls and Terries in the JP Trophy and Leeds United for large parts of a Carling Cup tie, they have been racked by inconsistency.

Fourth-bottom of the Football League is no place for a storied club, for whom memories of the Premier League are still fresh.

Since succeeding Peter Jackson in late August, Parkinson has seen Bradford take one step forward, two steps back, time and again.

Swindon 10 days ago, to Cheltenham last Saturday was a case in point.

“It’s frustrating,” said Parkinson. “We saw a level of performance at Swindon which was very good, one of the best we’ve put in. We needed to follow that up. Cheltenham are a good side, a good away team, take nothing away from them. At the moment they are better than us because the league position suggests that.

“But I don’t want to hide away from that. We’ve got expectations from our group of players and I felt we could have done more on the day to win that game.

“We are hurting and I like it to be that way. We came in Sunday for training because losing hurts, but when it’s on your own patch, any manager will tell you it hurts that extra bit more so we’re ready for Sheffield United.”

Ask around the corridors of Bradford’s Woodhouse Grove training base and no-one can put their finger on why Bradford have punched above their weight in the cup competitions this season.

“I don’t know why,” said defender Luke Oliver, who scored in the 90 minutes against Huddersfield and was denied a winner by the width of the crossbar in the dying minutes of the shoot-out win over Wednesday.

“Maybe because of the opposition we’ve faced you raise your game, you hope it’s not that but sometimes it does happen and we’ve done well so far.

“What we need to do is get some consistency in our league form. We had been playing well up until the Cheltenham game, but haven’t been getting the results.”

For Parkinson, the energy of the fans can play a decisive role. He said: “Sheffield Wednesday played a weakened team against us, but it was still a tight game and we had the chances to win it on the night.

“But in the Huddersfield game that level of support certainly got more out of our players. It’s an old one about supporters making a difference – but they do.

“When you’re coming out away from home and you’ve got 2,500-3,000 fans behind you it’s going to help.

“It was a great night for us, it gave everybody a lift.

“The support we had there, getting through on a penalty shoot-out against a team that hasn’t been beaten for 40-odd games, was great.

“Can we do it again? With the level of performances like I know we can put in, we’ll give ourselves a great chance.

“Tonight’s game is on the TV but hopefully as many as possible can come and support us and we can put on a performance.”

Continuation of the cup run, Parkinson believes, can have a knock-on effect on the club’s bid to haul themselves away from the relegation zone. The immediate priority, though, is tonight.

“Do I hope Sheffield United take it seriously? No I hope they don’t,” said Parkinson. “I hope they make five changes and weaken the team so it gives us a better chance.

“I’m not really concerned what their focus is I’m focussed on us getting back to the performance level I know we can achieve.”

Bradford welcome back defender Simon Ramsden into tonight’s squad.