Bradford City 3, Halifax Town 1 (Agg: City win 5-3); Richard Sutcliffe at Valley Parade.

It was mission accomplished for Bradford City last night but Paul Jewell's side certainly did it the hard way in this West Yorkshire derby.

Three second half goals eventually gave the Bantams a comfortable 5-2 aggregate victory but they certainly did not have it all their own way against a determined Halifax side.

In fact, City were staring at the possibility of being giant killing victims when Jamie Paterson put the Shaymen ahead on the night in the 53rd minute.

That strike brought the aggregate scores level and with City failing to produce the quality of football which beat West Brom on Sunday, the Shaymen sensed a momentous victory over their First Division neighbours.

However cometh the hour, cometh the man and it was Robbie Blake who produced a typically brilliant piece of skill to restore City's aggregate lead just three minutes later.

The City striker only returned to the side two weeks ago because of an injury to record signing Isaiah Rankin, but he has taken his chance with both hands.

And with flu victim Lee Mills ruled out last night, it was Blake who produced the goods with a superb all-round performance which the Shaymen simply had no answer to.

The 22-year-old brought City level with a sublime piece of skill which saw him turn Kieran O'Regan before drilling a shot across Town keeper Lee Martin and into the net.

The goal capped a fine display from Blake who not only proved dangerous in the Town penalty area but also played some majestic crossfield balls to instigate several City attacks.

He was also at the heart of the most controversial incident of the game when Halifax's hopes of cup glory were dashed with the award of a 77th minute penalty.

Blake again used his body well to turn an opponent, this time Kevin Hulme, and as he raced towards goal the Town midfielder grabbed Blake's shirt. The referee, who was just yards away, pointed to the spot and Peter Beagrie netted his fourth goal of the season. Nigel Pepper then showed great skill with just nine minutes remaining to curl a left footed shot round Martin to seal the tie.

The third goal was rough justice on battling Town who had taken the lead thanks to striker Dave Hanson's persistence.

The big striker chased a long ball out of defence and after beating Walsh to the ball he was duly clattered to the ground by the City keeper. Walsh nearly made amends by saving Paterson's penalty only for the ball to rebound straight back to the diminutive midfielder and he crashed the ball into the net.

In the second half of last season, this would probably have heralded a City collapse but they showed their true character last night by replying with their best football of the night.

The midfield started to function much more coherently with captain Stuart McCall urging his side on and the game was transformed.

City could, in fact, have scored more than three with Beagrie having a header cleared off the line and Blake striking a post.

However the Bantams were pleased to earn a place in the third round with the added bonus being that they have now lost just once in six games.

And with two home games in succession in the coming week, it means City could be about to start a long overdue move up the First Division table.

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