David Hopkin was pleased to see his side make it through to the second round of the Emirates FA Cup, despite being taken to penalties by National League Aldershot Town.
City led in extra-time after a Kai Bruenker strike was turned into the back of the net by Shots defender George Fowler.
But the visitors responded - seven minutes later - to take the tie to penalties.
Bantams boss Hopkin said: “I am glad we made it through to the next round of the cup. The efforts put in by the players was exhausting in such difficult weather conditions, so we are pleased to be progressing.
“It proved a difficult game for us. Aldershot came with a gameplan to sit back in a 5-4-1 formation. I thought we scored two perfectly good goals, which would have seen us through in normal time, but the linesman has obviously seen something very different.
“Aldershot must have brought the weather up with them from the last time we played them. I spoke to Gary Waddock and his players and congratulated them on their performance. They were outstanding and came knowing they had very little to lose.
“We took the lead and switched off. It was a really poor goal for us to concede and it gave Aldershot something to hang on to.
“Lower-league teams are always going to give it a go and they took their chance.”
Richard O’Donnell was the Bantams’ penalty hero, saving two of the three penalties he faced.
Eoin Doyle, Kai Brunker, Lewis O’Brien and Jack Payne stepped up for City and all slotted their kicks home.
Hopkin added: “We have quality players and I always knew if it went to penalties, every one of them is good at taking them.
“These are good assets to have because - in cup competitions - it can often come down to penalties. It is great we have confident players ready to step up.
“We now need to ready ourselves for a massive game on Saturday, against Oxford. Every player is so important to us now as we try to balance two competitions.
“We need to make sure we get as many fans out, because the more people we get to Valley Parade, the better the atmosphere and the better we will respond to that backing.
“We just need to keep building the blocks and we can get out of where we are.”
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