Gary Bowyer just happy that Bradford City are in the FA Cup hat

Bowyer’s battling Bantams registered a commendable first round away draw with League One Shrewsbury at Greenhous Meadow.

“We competed well with a higher league side and could have won it,” reflected Bowyer. “It’s good to be in the hat for the next round. I thought we gave it a good go in the second half. We gave a really good account of ourselves.”

Striker Aramide Oteh fired the League Two high-fliers into a 19th-minute lead with his third goal in five matches.

Josh Laurent levelled for the Shrews nine minutes later to send this tie to a replay.

“We lost Harry Pritchard in the week through illness and then the boys came here and gave everything, that’s all we ask from them,” added Bowyer. “We’re absolutely delighted with certain aspects that we can take away. Their last two games here, Shrewsbury have beaten Sunderland and Peterborough.

“Neither manager would have wanted a replay but we wanted to be in the hat for the next round and that’s exactly what we are.”

Laurent and Sean Goss went close for the home side before the break as the game opened up.

Midfielder Dylan Connolly fluffed his lines for Bradford after going through 10 minutes after the restart, before Oliver Norburn fired inches wide shortly after the hour mark.

Ben Richards-Everton hit the post for City, and Shaun Whalley had a penalty shout ignored.

Shrewsbury Town: Murphy, Ebanks-Landell, Pierre, Beckles, Love, Norburn, Goss (Edwards 71), Golbourne (Giles 81), Whalley, Cummings (Okenabirhie 57), Laurent. Unused substitutes: Williams, Walker, Thompson, Gregory.

Bradford City: O’Donnell, Henley, Richards-Everton, O’Connor, Wood, Connolly (O’Connor 86), Devine, Akpan, Ismail (Anderson 57), Oteh, Vaughan (Mellor 57). Unused substitutes: Longridge, Reeves, French, Sykes-Kenworthy.

Referee: S Purkiss (London).