Phil Parkinson felt City’s emphatic win over Carlisle sent out a statement in their opening home league game.

The Bantams eased to a 4-0 victory, scoring three of them in the first half hour.

Parkinson said: “The way we started was terrific. It was so important that we did that to make a statement of how we are going to play at home.

“I’m also realistic enough to know that we played a team that have gone into extra-time on Wednesday, whereas we were able to rest a lot of players. The freshness in our team was very evident.

“I know from the experience of last year how difficult it is to get going again, when you have extra-time in midweek. We capitalised on it terrifically well.

“Some of the football for 30 minutes of the first half was as good as we’ve seen here for a long time.”