PAUL Shanley believes a lack of discipline cost Bradford Town the chance of a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Vase after they were beaten 2-0 at home by Highworth Town.

With Bradford already two goals down, they were given a lifeline midway through the second half when the visitors were reduced to ten men following a second booking for Jonny Aitkenhead.

However, that numerical advantage lasted just five minutes as Bradford’s Shaun Percival was shown a straight red for a kick out at a corner.

And the home side actually finished the game with nine players as Luke Hopper picked up a second yellow card in stoppage time.

Boss Shanley believes that had his side kept their full complement on the pitch the fifth round tie could have ended very differently.

“Our discipline let us down,” said Shanley.

“At 2-0 down we go to 11 against 10 with 20 minutes to go. They were sitting deeper and deeper and if we could have got one goal you feel like we could have gone on and got something from the game.

“That cost us any chance of getting back into it. I’m bitterly disappointed as at 11 against 10 you never know.

“If we’d got one goal Highworth may have folded but we never gave ourselves that opportunity.

“When it was 11 against 10 that was the ideal opportunity to pin them back in but it wasn’t like that for very many minutes.

“After a bit of stupidity from Shaun it’s back to 10 against 10 again and it’s even more difficult.”

Bradford got off to the worst possible start and fell behind inside five minutes when TJ Bohane lost his marker to head home a free-kick.

The home side rallied but could not fashion out a meaningful opening and they were hit with a sucker-punch just before the break when Jon Davoile lashed home Highworth’s second when a corner was not cleared.

Shanley added: “We got undone by a set-piece early one, although fair play to them as it was well worked.

“After that I felt we dominated possession until the last couple of minutes of the half where we got undone again by another set-piece that we should have cut out.

“I’m disappointed because we haven’t played to our potential.

“In the first half we had a lot of possession but the quality we usually have in the final third wasn’t there. I don’t recall their keeper really having a save to make, which again was disappointing.”

Although disappointed by the result, Shanley was quick to hail his squad for getting further in the competition than they ever have before.

He said: “It’s a big achievement in itself getting to the fifth round.

“I think we can go on from this as we’ve still got a lot to play for this season. We’ve got a semi-final in the Wiltshire Cup, we’re still in the Les Phillips Cup and we’ve got a chance of a decent finish in the league.

“We’ve got to take positives from this. On Saturday there weren’t many but we’ll take the positives from the run we have had and move on.

“The players have put the club on the map with their performances and what they’ve done.”