BOSS Paul Shanley hailed the spirit in the Bradford Town camp after they overcame the odds to beat local rivals Melksham Town 3-1 and book a place in the FA Vase fifth round for the first time in their history.

Bradford had to come from a goal down at Trowbridge Road after Dan Kovacs had put the visitors in front midway through the first half.

Sam Jordan quickly restored parity but Bradford suffered another set-back when Mark Wall was shown a straight red card five minutes before half-time for a lunge on Ian Jeffery.

But Bradford showed superb resolved in the second half and a pair of free-kicks from Shaun Percival and Jake Hiscocks snatched an unlikely win.

Shanley said: “I’m ecstatic. It was a tremendous performance especially having gone down to ten men.

“To show the character and belief we did was amazing. We said just believe in yourselves at half-time because we’ve still got a chance with ten men.

“For the lads it’s just tremendous to battle through against a side like that. Melksham have got some quality players. We knew it would be tough with 11 but to do it with 10, I’m just so proud of them.

“When we got back to 1-1 I thought we were the better side and deserved the victory.

“They had a couple of chances, we made some crucial blocks and our keeper pulled off a great save at 1-0, but we had other opportunities where we could have scored a couple more as well.

“I’m not dreaming of Wembley yet. It’s the last 16 so there’s a long way to go and there’s some very, very good sides still in it. We’re just over the moon with what we’ve done today.”

Melsham counterpart Darren Perrin took a different view on events and could not believe his side did not win the contest.

Perrin cited a crucial save from Ed Baldy as a pivotal moment, with the Bradford keeper tipping over a Gary Higdon header while Melksham were still 1-0 to the good.

“I think the best side lost today. We had 85 per cent of the game and God knows how many chances,” said Perrin.

“To be fair, the save their keeper made at 1-0 was world-class. It was as good as you’ll see at this level.

“If that had gone in it could have been a convincing win for us. We also hit the crossbar and their defenders put their bodies on the line, whereas I can’t remember our goalkeeper having to make a save.

“That’s cup football and shows what happens if you don’t take your chances.

“I couldn’t ask for any more from my players. They were absolutely brilliant and the one thing I am immensely proud of is our discipline.

“I am disappointed with the goals we gave away from set pieces. It hurts but we’ll move on.

“All credit to Paul and Bradford, we wish them all the best and hope they get a good draw in the next round.”

The one thing the two bosses did agree on was that the vocal support deserved unanimous praise after an impressive crowd of 621 turned out at Trowbridge Road.

Shanley said: “The crowd were tremendous, not just for Bradford but for Melksham too.

“I think they brought a few hundred here and we had great support as well. It just shows if you get two good sides playing together in a local derby of this stature you get people coming to watch.”

Perrin added: “It was great to see the support we brought today, they did the club proud.

“I cannot praise my chairman and supporters enough, they’ve been fantastic.”