Soccer
Graham Alexander delighted as Bradford back-ups shake off the rust
Bradford manager Graham Alexander was pleased with his side as they won 3-1 at Leyton Orient in the Carabao Cup.
The Valley Parade outfit earned their fourth round place with goals from Will Swan, Stephen Humphrys and Nick Powell.
Despite going behind to a Macaulay Gillesphey own goal, Alexander showed pride in his much-changed side.
He said: “I’m so pleased with tonight, it was almost the perfect night to see the team compete like that with so many changes.
“We were excellent, there were a few moments at the start where some of the lads were a bit rusty because they’ve not played much football.
“But we got into the swing of the game – in the second half we created numerous chances to score more than the three goals.”
Gillesphey sliced the ball past Jon McCracken into his own net on 39 minutes, before Swan tucked his effort past Noah Phillips before the break.
Humphrys curled a header past Phillips on 58 minutes, before Powell netted late on with a volley to give Bradford a deserved win.
Orient head coach Richie Wellens rued the way his makeshift squad squandered their advantage.
He said: “For 60 minutes I thought we were the better team, their (second) goal came out of the blue. And then we lost our way for a bit.
“We threw a team together tonight, a few players playing out of position. But that was enforced, because we needed to protect some players.”
