Bradford City picked up from where they had left off in the Capital One Cup, shocking Aston Villa 3-1 in the first leg of their semi-final.
Still buzzing from their monumental win over Arsenal, Bradford took that same form against a Villa side, who have clearly forgotten the art of defending.
Nakhi Wells opened the scoring for Bradford in the 19th minute before the home team endured some Villa pressure early in the second half, with goalkeeper Matt Duke showing brilliant form.
Rory McArdle clearly took the tie in Bradford's favor with 13 minutes remaining, only for Andreas Weimann to cut the deficit in the 82nd minute. However, Carl McHugh had the final say in the game, scoring in the 88th minute to give his side a precious two-goal lead going into the second leg at Villa Park.
Bradford manager Phil Parkinson said the win was more satisfying than the penalty shootout victory over Arsenal in the quarterfinals. "Yes. To score three goals against a Premier League team is an outstanding achievement," he said. "We played so well.
"They came with a really attacking lineup but they left space and we passed the ball so well. They had chances but so did we.
"We don't want to get carried away with our celebrations because we still have to go to Villa Park for the second leg but the lads can enjoy themselves tonight.
"Now we can go there and really enjoy it because the pressure will be on Villa."
Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert was could not hide his disappointment after another wpoeful defensive performance from his team. "I'm really disappointed we lost the game," Lambert told Sky Sports. "We are in a game now, that's for sure.
"We knew what was coming -- setpieces -- and we never defended them well at all. That's definitely what's hurt us but that's certainly not good enough.
"We had a lot of the game and yes they were setpieces but setpieces are a vital part of the game and you've got to defend them. We didn't do that.
"But it's halftime and we've got time to retrieve this. We'll see what happens in a fortnight's time.
"We know what we've got to do and we've certainly got to do a lot better than that."
