Villa Park moment reward for all the hard work

Former supermarket worker James Hanson is determined to cash in after earning Bradford City a princely reward at English football’s grandest emporium of Wembley.

The unassuming Bantams goal hero – who cost the club the bargain basement sum of £7,500 when he joined from neighbours Guiseley in June 2009 – is still pinching himself after checking out of Villa Park on Tuesday night with a newly-found national reputation.

That comes along with the richly-deserved bottle of champagne for his man-of-the-match efforts crowned by his 55th-minute strike at Aston Villa, which went down like a lead balloon with well over three-quarters of a packed and parochial Brummie crowd.

It effectively proved the tie-clinching moment in City’s 4-3 aggregate success in their unforgettable Capital One Cup semi-final win.

Not bad for a guy who just four years ago was plying his trade with non-league Guiseley, while fitting in shifts at his local Co-op in Idle, with his strike at Villa propelling himself into the footballing shop window in a big way.

Bradford-born Hanson, shown the door at Huddersfield Town at the age of 15 before first heading to Eccleshill United and then Guiseley to kick-start his hopes of earning a second chance in the professional game, said: “It is days like at Villa when you appreciate why you want to be a professional and thankfully all the hard work I have put in paid off on Tuesday night.

“It just shows that if you keep working hard, anything can happen and to score the goal to take us to Wembley was unbelievable.

“Before I came to Bradford, I was just enjoying playing in non-football and scoring a few goals and making quite good money and working as well. It was actually a good lifestyle.

“But you always want to play as high as you can and thankfully Stuart McCall gave me my chance and I have not looked back since.”

On his former life stacking shelves at his local Co-op, he quipped: “I actually still go in because it is my local shop. I have tried to go to Morrisons, but it is quite expensive there!”

Far from on the shelves, Hanson, who first announced himself on the footballing scene with 13 goals in his maiden season with City in 2009-10, is now very much a prized commodity with his market asset value likely to have soared as a result of Tuesday night.

And his televised exploits certainly have not gone unnoticed with his mates in his home city, who have already been inundating him with requests for Wembley tickets.

While it may have been the most pleasurable of nights for Hanson, who hit 44 goals in two seasons at Guiseley before heading to City, it was not without pain.

The lanky striker played through the pain barrier with a toe injury, requiring an injection beforehand, but the discomfort was all worth it.

Hanson, first alerted to City’s attention by ex-Valley Parade winger Mark Ellis, added: “I broke my toe on New Year’s Day, so I had to play through the pain a little bit. After the Villa game, it just got worse and worse.

“I basically had two weeks off and did not train at all until Monday and I was not sure if the gaffer was going to play me or not.

“But thankfully, he did and I managed to keep going to the end. I was willing to play through an injection; anything really to play in this game as it was so special.

“The Port Vale game being off at the weekend was important for me to play. But I think everyone connected with the club were quite happy it was off as it gave us extra time to prepare for Villa and for myself as well because if I had played on Saturday, I might have been struggling for Villa.”

There has been a certain symmetry to Hanson’s goalscoring contributions in the Capital One Cup, with the 25-year-old starting the Bantams’ Cup journey with an extra-time winner in the first round at Notts County in August before netting the goal which booked a final berth at Villa.

Now, the forward is aiming for the icing on the cake, by virtue of a memorable goalscoring instalment in the final on February 24.

On his midweek strike, he said: “I just lost my marker as Gary (Jones) put it in and got a clear sight on it. I just connected with my head and thankfully it went in. With it being in front of the away end, it made it extra special.

“It was amazing for the lads. We dug in during the first half, which was tough as they scored the goal quite early and they had a lot of chances.

“Dukey made some important saves and if that second goal had gone in before half-time, it would have been game over.

“Thankfully, we were only 1-0 down at half-time and the gaffer got us in and had a word and in the second half, I thought we were different class.

“We seemed to relax and pass the ball a bit better. We always fancied ourselves to score, especially from set-pieces and that is what happened.”

Looking ahead to the final, he said: “I have never been to Wembley, so you could say I am looking forward to it. We can go there under no pressure, can’t we, after what we have achieved in each round.

“We will be underdogs again, but we don’t really mind that. Anything is possible after Tuesday and the Arsenal result, who knows?”