Wells on the mark as Bradford City defy odds again (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Nahki Wells on the mark as Bradford City defy odds again

6:40am Wednesday 9th January 2013 in Sport By Sports Desk

City striker Nahki Wells conceded his side are now favourites to reach the Capital One Cup final after their semi-final first-leg win over Aston Villa – but would prefer it if they remained as the underdogs.

Wells scored the first goal as City won 3-1 to produce another memorable cup result to follow their quarter-final defeat of Arsenal and will head to Villa Park for the second leg in the box seat.

Bermuda international Wells knows the Bantams will now be expected to finish the job and hopes they can do just that.

“We may well be the favourites now but we want to be the underdogs,” he said.

“To get this far is great but we now want to make sure we get through.

“We showed our quality and that we can compete with Premier League teams.

“We were resilient. It was a tough match but we showed what we are capable of. To have a two-goal cushion is great.

“We would have taken a draw but 3-1 is amazing. It’s a good deficit to take with us to the away tie.”

Rory McArdle doubled the lead but Villa looked to have made a game of it when Andreas Weimann scored to make it 2-1.

But Carl McHugh had other ideas, with his late header putting City into dreamland.

Teenage defender McHugh said: “I was determined to make sure we got the two-goal lead. I didn’t care how I got my head on it.”

Goalkeeper Matt Duke, who made a string of fine saves, added: “It shows the team spirit we have. We’ve all put a shift in.

“Credit to the boys in front of me, we caused them problems, scored three goals and we can go to Villa Park with a lead.

“We are playing a class team and we need to be on our game. It’s a cliche but it’s half a job and we have a bigger task ahead.”