<
>

'Beating Chelsea made our season,' says Bradford co-chairman

Bradford co-chairman Mark Lawn is dreaming of being paired with Manchester United after his Bantams dumped Chelsea out of the FA Cup on a day of shocks on Saturday.

Bradford fought back from 2-0 down at Stamford Bridge to claim the biggest upset of the day, if not the entire tournament -- no mean feat considering Manchester City, Southampton and Tottenham also lost to supposedly inferior opposition on Saturday -- and their 4-2 victory earned the League One side a place in the fifth round.

The Bantams have a recent history of giant-killing -- beating Arsenal and Aston Villa to reach the 2013 Capital One Cup final -- and, after ending the Premier League leader's interest in this season's FA Cup, Lawn hopes to be pitted against Louis van Gaal's Red Devils when the fifth-round draw is made on Monday evening.

United, of course, are not guaranteed a place in the next round after they were held to a goalless draw at Cambridge on Friday, but Lawn has his hopes pinned on an Old Trafford tie.

"My wife's a big Man United fan, so hopefully [we get] Man United away," he told Sky Sports News.

Bradford's victory over Jose Mourinho's expensively assembled team is likely to live long in their fans' memory, and Lawn does not believe scalps come any bigger.

"It's like [beating] Barcelona, for me," he said. "It's like winning at a top, top European side. That's what Chelsea are -- Chelsea are a top, top European side.

"I don't think there's one single Bradford City fan that would turn around and say, 'I think it [their cup run] is a distraction.'

"Beating Chelsea has made our season."

Lawn's wish for a fifth-round encounter against 11-time winners United was echoed by the man who masterminded Saturday's extraordinary triumph.

Bradford manager Phil Parkinson could be excused for wanting the easiest tie possible, but he too hopes to take on the likes of Wayne Rooney, Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao.

"If I had my choice, I'd like to play Manchester United," he said.

"The experience we had [on Saturday], going to Stamford Bridge was just terrific. If Manchester United can manage to beat Cambridge, it would be great to go to Old Trafford.

"But, whoever we get, it's great to be in the fifth round. We're enjoying being in the limelight."

Parkinson oversaw the League Cup victories over Arsenal and Aston Villa, but believes the Chelsea win was his best yet -- even if Mourinho made several changes to his side.

"The night we beat Arsenal they played a full-strength team, but it was a night set up for a cup shock with a pitch starting to get a little bit frosty," he said. "It was a freezing cold night in Bradford, with all the elements for a cup shock.

"Going down there to Stamford Bridge, with a fantastic playing surface and 40,000 people behind them, to beat the league leaders and one of the best teams in Europe has to top the Arsenal victory."

Chelsea took a 2-0 lead through Gary Cahill and Ramires, but Jon Stead pulled a goal back before halftime before goals from Filipe Morais, Andy Halliday and Mark Yeates completed the upset.

"It's really just about giving the lads the belief to go out there and put on their best performance," Parkinson added.

"We respected Chelsea, but we certainly didn't fear them. We weren't going to back off them and give them the ball in our half. When they came into the middle third we pressed them aggressively and that was the key.

"We didn't give them any time on the ball and they're not used to that at that level. When we had the ball ourselves we played with real calmness and I'm really pleased because it's so important. These days don't come along very often and when they do it's great we made the most of it. The lads really did themselves credit."