TEN-MAN Bradford Town came from a goal down to beat Melksham Town 3-1 and earn their place in the FA Vase fifth round.

A pair of second-half free-kicks from Shaun Percival and Jake Hiscocks proved the difference as Bradford edged a cracking local derby at Trowbridge Road to progress to the last 16 of the national competition.

That was despite the home side having Mark Wall sent off five minutes before half-time for a lunge on Melksham’s Ian Jeffery.

Sam Jordan had earlier brought Bradford back level, cancelling out Dan Kovacs’ opener for the visitors.

Bradford very nearly got off to the dream start and had a chance to open the scoring inside 10 seconds of the kick-off. Jordan raced down the right and pulled the ball back into the box but Dave Thompson was just able to hook the bobbling ball away in front of Twaine Plummer.

The next 30 minutes were dominated by Melksham and they got themselves in front midway through the first half. Omar Simpson sent a tame effort into the Bradford box but the ball fell perfectly at the feet of Kovacs, who swivelled on the spot before sending the ball into the bottom corner.

Gary Higdon went close to second Melksham goal soon afterwards but his effort was deflected wide, and Ryan Bennett headed inches over the top from the resulting corner.

Bradford keeper Ed Baldy then pulled off a sublime save to keep the score down to 1-0, tipping Higdon’s close-range header over the top from Ben Thomson’s cross.

But Melksham were made to pay for their misses and the home side hauled themselves level against the run of play when Jordan tucked home Plummer’s deep cross at the back post.

The Bradford celebrations were cut short, however, as they were swiftly reduced to ten men when Wall leapt into an overzealous challenge on Jeffery and was given his marching orders.

That almost allowed Melksham to get their noses back in front before the break and Bradford were grateful to Andy Gilbert as the full-back got in a crucial block to deny Simpson after good work on the left by Higdon.

Five minutes into the second period Bradford were lucky to avoid a second red when Plummer was only cautioned for a lunging tackle which left Will Stead down in a heap.

Melksham’s Jeffery then saw a powerful free-kick cannon off the bar from 25 yards but from there Bradford turned the game on its head.

Percival put them ahead for the first time midway through the second half when his dipping free-kick from out on the left deceived everyone and snuck inside Melksham keeper Rob Brown’s far post.

The visitors threw everything forward in search of an equaliser and only brave last-ditch blocks by the Bradford defence denied Kovacs and Higdon when it seemed certain they would find the net.

But Bradford put the result beyond doubt at the death when they were awarded another free-kick in a good position. Hiscocks kept the ball low beneath the jumping wall and the ball nestled neatly in the bottom corner.