Tyler Smith says Bantams have strength in depth to cope

The Carabao Cup success at Wrexham was achieved without Andy Cook.

And fellow striker Smith believes that has highlighted the resources available for Mark Hughes for their League Two promotion push.

“We’re confident we can beat teams whoever is in the starting 11 or on the bench,” he said.

“We’re going to get knocks and bumps and injuries along the way. People need to realise whoever is playing can do the job and we showed that on Tuesday.

“The players that have come in have all played their part to get us through.

“We need a big group with everyone in it together, knowing that when it’s time for people to step up they can deliver.

“Everyone is delighted to get into the next round. We knew it was going to be a difficult game but we all dug in, worked hard and stuck in there.”

Without a target man, Smith was joined up front by Jamie Walker - with the Scot earning the penalty that he dispatched for his first goal in City colours.

Smith last hit the net when he scored twice for Hull in a 4-1 win at Wigan on January 2.

He added: “I knew it was only a matter of time before I got off the mark.

“It’s probably been a little bit too long, but I got an opportunity and I took it.

“I do think that we got a lot of joy running in behind. We knew what we needed to do and if we could get in behind the defence it would cause them problems.

“We did that, especially in the first half, and we turned them early. We got the pen and kept turning them after that and getting success.

“It was a different game with Cooky not there. But we all know it went well.”

Cook remains a doubt for the weekend clash with Mansfield as he waits for the discomfort in his side to ease.

But Smith insists City have shown they can cope with their talisman missing as they prepare for yet another afternoon on the road.

“It’s going to be tough. We’ve had a lot of travelling against good teams in big grounds.

City's faces say it all after their penalty shoot-out win (Image: Thomas Gadd)

“But we’re confident as a group that we can go there and get three points. That’s the mentality we need to have and we will have.

“We’ll stay strong, recover and be ready to go again at the weekend.

“There was a big lesson learned at Morecambe and we’ve kicked on from that.

“That’s behind us now and we’ve moved on. Whoever plays, whoever starts, everyone has the confidence in each other that we can put on a performance.”

Smith seized the opportunity to break his scoring duck with the early spot-kick against Wrexham - a decision given for Aaron Hayden’s nudge on Walker that was hotly-disputed by Phil Parkinson.

“It was a penalty. You can’t come through somebody in the back, simple as that.

“I knew I was scoring. As soon as he went down and gave the pen, I was straight over grabbing the ball.

“I knew coming into the game that if we got a pen, that was me and I was confident that I’d put it away. I wasn’t nervous at all.”

City’s furthest progress in the League Cup since 2014 has been secured by consecutive penalty shoot-outs - something else Smith says will strengthen the feel-good factor in the dressing room.

“It’s becoming a habit. But whether it’s pens or in 90 minutes, we’ve got to do the job and that’s what we did.

“We’d been practising pens in training, so we were quite comfortable. We believe in each other that we can win if it does get to that.

“Obviously, we’d prefer if it didn’t but that’s football and we’re just glad to get into the next round.”