Phil Parkinson got the belated second shot at José Mourinho he craved but had to watch the securing of the fourth-round FA Cup tie at Chelsea from the stands for his part in a first-half flashpoint.
Eight years ago the then Colchester manager was within a dozen minutes of a replay against Chelsea during Mourinho’s first stint at Stamford Bridge. He witnessed the majority of Bradford’s tempestuous four-goal replay win over 10-man Millwall among the home crowd after being sent off along with his assistant Steve Parkin.
Despite Bradford’s heroics as a League Two side two years ago when they ousted Arsenal and Aston Villa on the way to the Capital One Cup final, this was their first foray beyond round three of this competition since 2000. Passage was secured long before the referee, James Adcock, took action against the Bradford management team after they left their technical area and hared down the touchline in response to Alan Dunne’s overzealous touchline bumping of James Hanson.
“It was a dangerous challenge because there is a wall behind those advertising hoardings and me and Steve have reacted in the heat of the moment and run down,” Parkinson said. “I apologised to the lads at half-time because I ask them to keep cool and stay on the pitch. I am glad it hasn’t ruined a great night and that the team didn’t need us on the touchline anyway.”
Bradford’s advantage stood at one man and two goals when the melee ensued and despite several players grappling in response, most notably the Millwall goalkeeper, David Forde, who appeared to swing at the Bradford midfielder Billy Knott, no player followed Mark Beevers down the tunnel.
It was undoubtedly Beevers’ dismissal in the sixth minute that shaped the game. Caught out by a long ball that drifted on the wind, Beevers hauled down Hanson and was punished for denying a goalscoring opportunity. Two minutes later Bradford opened the scoring when Andy Halliday’s corner was flicked on at the near post by Rory McArdle and Hanson stooped to nod in.
That sparked the first chants of “bring on the Chelsea”. They reverberated once more in the aftermath of Jon Stead’s second on 17 minutes: the former Stamford Bridge trainee Filipe Morais floated a free-kick into the area, Andrew Davies knocked down and the ball slowed sufficiently in some penalty area mud for Stead to wrap his foot round it decisively.
Ian Holloway’s reaction to his side’s latest implosion – they have won twice in 22 matches – was to substitute the striker Ricardo Fuller, whose late goal in the original tie had salvaged this replay, for an extra body in midfield.
Bradford profited from using the width of a pitch heavily rutted down the middle and scored a third when Morais zipped down the right flank to clip into the six-yard box where Halliday, haring in from the left, met it with a cushioned volley. The fourth came via an opportunistic finish from the impish Knott, who turned and flicked past Forde in one motion after a corner led to some penalty-area pinball.
Millwall did not ship another goal but faced taunts from their travelling support. Holloway held a dressing-room inquest that delayed his post-match media duties by 45 minutes. His position could come under threat.
“Football is not forgiving at the moment but we have to stand up and be counted,” Holloway said. “The pride that you should wear that shirt with I didn’t see and that’s unacceptable for me.”
His main ire was reserved for Beevers: “It was going to be tough enough anyway and to bring the fella down like that meant the referee didn’t have a choice. Then, the lack of confidence in the team was there for everyone to see.
“In my time in football I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team capitulate as badly as that. All I can do is apologise to the fans. That didn’t look like a Millwall team and they don’t look like my team. As a footballer I never gave a performance like that in my life.”
In contrast, Parkinson was left purring at the thought of his date with the Special One. “There was a big prize at stake, we wanted to achieve it and we did the job really well.”
