Graham Alexander hails Bradford for not getting frustrated in win over Aldershot

Graham Alexander praised Bradford for not getting frustrated in their 3-1 comeback FA Cup first-round win over Aldershot.

The Bantams, who had not made the FA Cup second round since 2020, came from behind against the National League side with three second-half goals.

An upset looked on the cards when Jack Barham, who scored a hat-trick in the same round at Swindon last year, fired Aldershot in front.

Bradford had paid the price for missing several chances but got it right five minutes into the second half as Calum Kavanagh set up Vadaine Oliver for an easy tap-in.

Christian Maghoma deflected Jay Benn’s cross into his own net to give Bradford the lead before Kavanagh added a third three minutes later.

Manager Alexander said: “The aim of the game was to be in the next round, which we’ve done.

“We made a few changes so I wanted to give the opportunity to some players who may have been frustrated about the lack of game time.

“I was obviously disappointed to go in 1-0 down but I’m delighted with the players for not getting frustrated.

“We spoke about not going chasing in the first five minutes and do something stupid again.

“We had to have a control about ourselves and I felt we would have the quality to create chances to score again and we did that.”

Aldershot manager Tommy Widdrington was happy with his side’s performance despite the defeat.

Widdrington said: “I’m really proud of the lads. I said to them before that whatever the result, you had to leave a memory for the people who’ve come up from Aldershot.

“The fans wouldn’t have expected Bradford to walk all over us and we gave them a scare.

“You’ve got to give Bradford credit because they have responded well. I’m sure Graham said they had to step it up in the second half and they did.”