fa cup giant killers bradford city finally made it on to live television but viewers were treated to blood and thunder rather than a feast of football bantams striker jon stead rightly described it as a ‘dogfight’ and the lasting image was blood pouring out of the broken nose of reading centre half alex pearce in injury time it was that sort of game ‘no goals, but a classic cup tie,’ remarked reading boss steve clarke with a smile league one bradford were furious their fifth round tie against sunderland wasn’t selected by broadcasters despite their remarkable 4 2 win at chelsea in the previous round blood flows from the nose of reading defender alex pearce after a collision with francois zoko in the final minutes of the game on saturday  andrew davies goes close to giving bradford the lead with his header in the second half at valley parade  davies reacts after missing his chance to give bradford the lead against reading on saturday lunchtime in the fa cup  bradford's andrew davies looks on as the ball heads for the reading goal during the fa cup quarter final tie at valley parade  the ball goes wide as the score remained 0 0 in the first half with both sides going close to scoring on saturday  bradford manager phil parkinson acknowledges the crowd during their fa cup quarter final match at valley parade against reading  bradford city (4 4 1 1): williams 6, darby 7, mcardle 65, davies 6, meredith 6, liddle 7, morais 6 (halliday 76), knott 6 (yeates 83), clarke 55 (zoko 83), stead 7, hanson 6  subs not used: pickford, sheehan,  mackenzie, routis  goals: none  bookings: mcardle  reading: federici 6, stephen kelly 75, pearce 6, hector 6, obita 6, mackie 6 (yakubu 80), williams 7, norwood 55, chalobah 65 (akpan 84), robson kanu 55 (mccleary 66 6), pogrebnyak 6  subs not used: gunter, cox,   andersen, cooper  goals: none  bookings: none  referee: neil swarbrick 6  attendance: 24,231  this was their big chance to show the nation what they could do the atmosphere and commitment were 9/10, but the quality of football, and a bobbly pitch, would have been a turn off for viewers the woodwork was struck three times — once by bradford, twice by reading — but they were rare moments of penalty area drama championship side reading were determined not to go the same way as aston villa, arsenal, chelsea and sunderland who have all been beaten by 2013 capital one cup finalists bradford in the last few seasons, and clarke — who won the fa cup as a chelsea player in 1997 — was unapologetic for sticking an extra man in midfield and trying to stifle the game as a contest ‘we were always going to scrap, roll up our sleeves and fight for very second ball,’ he said history weighed heavily on both teams reading hadn’t been to an fa cup semi final since 1927 for bradford, managed by ex royals player phil parkinson, the wait had stretched back even further to 1911 with every bradford fan arriving with a claret and amber scarf, the atmosphere was colourful and noisy crunching tackles by stephen darby and gary liddle could be heard from the back of the stands while james hanson and stead steamed into any defender that moved not that reading were shrinking violets, chelsea loanee nathaniel chalobah winded liddle with his first strong challenge from behind reading took time to come to terms with being in the bearpit but produced a neat bit of football after 18 minutes when jamie mackie’s cross reached pavel pogrebnyak and the russian spun and struck the post in one movement bradford responded with their own opportunity, liddle’s cross shot deceiving adam federici and also striking the upright bradford's stephen darby has a shot under pressure from reading's oliver norwood during their fa cup quarter final match  bradford manager parkinson yells at the linesman during his side's fa cup quarter final tie against his former club reading  reading manager steve clarke (right) gives a glance towards parkinson during the cup game at valley parade on saturday  referee neil swarbrick got into the fa cup spirit and let go many challenges that would have been penalised in the premier league remarkably, he showed only one yellow card all afternoon, to bradford’s rory mcardle bradford dominated the second half and went close through hanson and andrew davies reading hit the post again when pogrebnyak deflected oliver norwood’s free kick with his arm the officials missed the infringement so it was lucky for them the ball didn’t go in even in injury time, no quarter was given when pearce went up in the air with francois zoko, he clashed heads with the bradford man and injured himself in the process play was stopped as blood streamed from pearce’s nose in keeping with the game, he went off to get patched up but came back on to see out time ‘wipe the blood off and back on, he’s a proper centre half,’ said clarke, proudly fans got an eyeful as pearce stripped down to his underpants along the touchline so he could change his bloodied shirt and shorts as quickly possible before returning to the fray ‘it was a dogfight,’ reflected stead, who has scored in every round in this season’s competition ‘it was two teams going at it we feel we can do better we pinned them in the second half but needed to score we’ll give it everything in the replay’ jon stead goes for the ball during bradford's fa cup tie with reading as the league one and championship side went head to head  stead has scored in every round so far but failed to net against reading in the home tie of this quarter final match  bradford's billy clarke tries to keep the ball as the home side looked to open the scoring against championship side reading  pearce (second right) had to strip down to his underpants to replace his bloodied kit before being able to continue the game  that will take place a week tomorrow to avoid uefa rules on clashing with the champions league it means bradford and reading will play two matches in three days ‘frustrating, it devalues the competition,’ said clarke the reading boss admitted his spoiling tactics were devised after watching bradford over run sunderland at valley parade last month ‘we knew what to expect, no quarter asked or given,’ he said parkinson said: ‘they came with an extra man in midfield it was a different challenge to the sunderland game but i thought we did well’ clarke refuses to see his side as favourites for the replay even though they play a division higher than bradford and have home advantage at the madjeski ‘i said it was a 50 50 game when the draw was made and i still think that now,’ he said yakubu came on with 10 minutes to go and was looking to steal the win for reading away from home in the fa cup  yakubu goes for goal towards the end in a nervous finish for bradford as reading looked to steal the fa cup win  reading's pavel pogrebnyak sees his shot go wide during the fa cup quarter final match against home side bradford  bradford supporters hold up their scarves during the fa cup quarter final tie at valley parade on saturday in the lunchtime match  bradford were looking to secure a place in the semi final of the fa cup when they took on reading at home on saturday  groundstaff tend to the pitch at halftime during the fa cup quarter final match between bradford and reading  the fa cup pictured in its case at bradford on saturday as the league one cup took on their championship counterparts 
the fa cup quarter final pavel pogrebnyak lee mason greenbacks melonist countesses valorousness musths ectoskeleton engouement tumultuation guiler neil swarbrick
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