STUART McCall praised City’s work ethic after a makeshift side took Doncaster to penalties in the EFL Trophy.

The League One side won 4-1 in the shoot-out at the Keepmoat Stadium last night but the Bantams take a point from the group game after finishing goalless in 90 minutes.

McCall changed all 11 starters from the Bolton clash and fielded four teenagers against a virtually full-strength host.

Finn Cousin-Dawson, Kian Scales, Connor Shanks and Jorge Sikora all got their chance and the City boss was delighted with how they responded – especially after a late change of shape.

He said: “I’ve not got a great record here having been done 5-1 last time in this cup and 3-0 last year with Scunny (Scunthorpe).

“So, when I saw how strong their team was we quickly flipped it. We had been looking at playing a diamond with Dylan (Mottley-Henry) up top to use his pace.

“But it would have been too much to let the full backs come on with the young kids in there and we were never going to play three v three against their front three.

“To come here against their strongest side and play like that shows a great work ethic from the team.

“We had four 18-year-olds and had to change how we were going to play at the last minute but stuck to the game plan.”

City restricted Doncaster to limited chances although they were unable to test debutant home keeper Louis Jones.

McCall added: “Donny were going to have a lot of possession because they are a good side but Sam (Hornby) has had two saves to make.

“We need to be better with free-kicks around the box because they are opportunities but we’ll work on that between now and Saturday.

“But overall, I was so proud because you’ve got to take into account what we were up against. I’m as pleased as I was last weekend.”

Zeli Ismail did miss out after undergoing a coronavirus test. He had been complaining of a sore throat on Sunday but felt no other symptoms.

The results on the winger came back negative but were too late for him to be included.

McCall said: “Zeli had no temperature and felt great on Monday. But we didn’t get the result until 6pm (yesterday) so he couldn’t be involved.”