Garry Thompson insists City should have nothing to fear from League One.

Thompson had a hand in two of the three goals that sunk Northampton – and is now itching to return to the third tier.

The 32-year-old is a veteran of that division with Scunthorpe and believes the promoted Bantams are quite capable of holding their own.

Thompson said: “Having played in both divisions, I don’t think the difference between League One and Two is great. With the team we’ve got, I don’t see us struggling.

“Hopefully we can stay together as much as we can. There are always going to be teams after your better players but if we can keep everyone here, we’ll have a right good crack at it again next year.”

Thompson is keen for Phil Parkinson and his team to sign their new Valley Parade deals. “That would be nice for everyone. Once the gaffer and hopefully the coaching staff are sorted, it provides a stable footing for us all to build on.

“I came to this club because I knew that we’d go places with the right team. I’ve never regretted any decision I’ve made in football and I certainly don’t regret this one.”

Saturday’s win completed a hat-trick of play-off wins for Thompson, who also went up at Wembley with Morecambe and Scunthorpe. He saw the emphatic victory as the perfect response to City’s thrashing in the Capital One Cup final.

“It feels special and put the cup final to bed. The game was dead and buried after 30 minutes and we knew that as long as we stayed solid, Northampton weren’t really going to threaten us.”

Thompson crossed for James Hanson to nod City’s opener and then an astute header back across goal set up Nahki Wells for the third. The right winger also had the chance to score in the second half but dragged his shot wide.

Thompson added: “You always want to make an impact and to have two assists in a 3-0 win is a good day’s work for me.

“The emphasis was on us starting well. If we played the game right, we felt nerves might get the better of them and their manager admitted that the occasion had got to his players.

“We played on that and I thought the team were fantastic to a man. From Jonny Mac (McLaughlin) right through to big James up top, we were great all over the park and could have scored four or five.

“When you come to these type of games, you want every man to win their individual battles and we more than did that. Getting promoted like this has turned a good season into an absol-utely fantastic one.”