10 years on: Hanson on Bradford City's "special" night at Villa Park

The celebrations had gone on long into the night and the early hours, spilling over from Villa Park to Napoleons in Bradford.

The new day was dawning as James Hanson left the party - and the realisation sunk in about what had just gone on. A team from the fourth tier were going to the League Cup final.

“It still feels like yesterday,” said Hanson, as he recalled City’s semi-final success against Aston Villa 10 years ago. “We were so lucky to do what we did.

“We’d come back and had a meal and drinks and I think I was last to go at about 5am. But then the reporters started ringing the next day and that’s when you thought about what we’d just achieved.

"We were League Two footballers and this attention was all new to us. 

“It was a special, special moment for me and I’m sure if you speak to all the lads and it’s right up there with their biggest achievements in football.”

Hanson had not played in the fortnight since the first leg after breaking his little toe.

He dosed up on pain killers but the club doctor watched the warm-up closely from pitch-side to see if he’d need a late injection. The adrenaline would see him through.

Will Atkinson flies into a tackle on Gabby Agbonlahor (Image: Newsquest)

Not that Hanson saw too much of the action in a first half onslaught towards City’s goal. It felt like the Alamo at times in Matt Duke’s penalty area.

Hanson felt the tone was set by the wall of claret and blue flags that greeted the teams as they came out the tunnel.

“It was quite intimidating for a lot of us going out on the pitch. It was the biggest game we’d ever played in and there was so much noise.

“We knew they were going to come out flying and they did.

“They had 11 chances first half and Dukey probably had to make five or six saves. He was unbelievable.”

Christian Benteke headed wide, Benteke headed over, Benteke’s header was saved by Duke.

Fabian Delph ran and fired over the bar, Gabby Agbonlahor was denied by Duke … then a goal.

It was a case of 10th time lucky for Benteke as the Belgian, who had missed half a dozen opportunities at Valley Parade, finally beat the City keeper with a volleyed finish from Joe Bennett’s cross. The aggregate difference was down to one.

Still the chances kept coming; Stephen Ireland’s effort was ruled out for offside before Duke pulled off another fine block from Charles N’Zogbia.

“He’s having the time of his life in this tie,” remarked BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce.

Phil Parkinson punches the air after James Hanson's equaliser (Image: PA)

Duke superbly finger-tipped Ireland’s chip away from the top corner before Benteke missed two more headers and Phil Dowd’s whistle brought City some respite.

Villa’s first-half bombardment had produced 11 scoring opportunities but only one taken - a message that Phil Parkinson stressed in the dressing room.

“Phil is very good at man-management and just calmed us down,” said Hanson. “He kept telling us we were three-quarters of the way through the tie and still ahead.

“We had dodged a bullet massively and needed Lady Luck a little bit like in the Arsenal game.

“But we knew we were fit and always came on strong second half. It was probably a 50-50 game after that and they created nowhere near as many chances again.”

Then Zavon Hines won City’s first corner, which Benteke cleared behind for a second. We all know what happened next.

Gary Jones floats an inviting ball towards the far post and there is Hanson barrelling his way between two opponents. Head meets ball with a thumping contact, the net rustles, the West Yorkshire section of Villa Park explodes in ecstasy.

“We’d had a lot of chances in the first game and I could have had a double, having one cleared off the line and hitting the bar. On another night at Valley Parade, we could have scored five.

“But Nahki (Wells) and I were wondering, ‘where have those chances gone?’ We didn’t seem to be creating any.

“Everyone to a man had worked hard off the ball in the first half to try and limit them as much as we could.

“But we always fancied ourselves at corners. There was me, Rory (McArdle) and Carl (McHugh) attacking them.

City's players enjoy the moment after reaching Wembley (Image: PA)

“We preferred outswingers because then you can find the flight of the ball. If an inswinger’s not directly near you, there isn’t a chance of getting on the end of it.

“If you put it in the right area and we beat the first man, with us three attacking it there was always a chance. Carl had done them like that in the first leg.

“Jonah put it right on the money. Benteke was the spare man in the six-yard box and Ron Vlaar was marking me.

“Thankfully it went just over Benteke’s head and I lost Vlaar and it was just a matter of hitting the target.”

With Villa stunned, Hanson thought he had another as Nathan Doyle picked him out five yards from goal. But the cross shaved off Ciaran Clark’s head, the slightest deflection doing enough to alter the angle.

Sub Garry Thompson struck the bar with his first touch before Andreas Weimann popped up with a late Villa winner to set up four excruciating minutes of stoppage time.

Hanson remembered “corner after corner” in a frantic finale but City weathered one last storm - and, incredibly, were off to Wembley.

James Hanson poses with his man-of-the-match award (Image: PA)