JOHN Coleman praised Stanley’s courage after they earned a famous shootout win to dispatch Bradford City in the first round of the EFL Cup.

The Reds boss saw his side reduced to 10 players when goalkeeper Elliot Parish was sent off 16 minutes from the end of normal time.

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But his troops battled on, even missing a penalty of their own through John O’Sullivan, before finally settling the tie 11-10 after Jordan Clark struck the winning spot-kick on a heady night at the Wham Stadium.

Coleman said: “At times we play some lovely stuff, at other times it’s Keystone Cops.

“But one thing you can’t buy, and what was shown in the two games so far this season, is absolute courage, determination and will to win.

“Sometimes that will take you a lot further and if you can add the skill to that, you’ve got the recipe for a very, very good and successful team.

“We know we can improve, our positional play has to improve, our passing has to improve, and maybe our thought processes have to improve.

“But I can’t knock the lads for the spirit that they’ve shown. They are throwing their bodies in the way of shots in extra time.

“I know we let Bradford have the ball, but you wouldn’t know it was 11 v 10 - they never had men over.

“Shay McCartan’s been cynically hacked down a minute into extra time, and to all intents you’re playing with nine men.

“You add that to Jonai (Donacien), he’s out on his feet, he’s pulled his hamstring, so in essence you’re playing with eight.

“So to be able to get a shutout is testament to their character and I’ve got to build on that.”

Coleman insisted Parish’s red card, for bringing down Filipe Morais, was ‘harsh’ and praised the stopper and his replacement Aaron Chapman.

“I thought Elliot had a smashing game and was very, very unfortunate to be sent off,” he said. “He made a genuine attempt for the ball, the lad’s knocked it towards the corner flag, he’s not going towards the goal, we’ve got two men goal-side, so I think it was very harsh.

“But they are two good goalkeepers and they are pushing each other.”

The nerve-shredded tension was similar to that witnessed last season, when Stanley failed to find a final day win and then lost in extra time in the play-off semi-finals.

“I think after last year I’ve gone beyond hurt,” said the manager. “I’m just very, very focused and very philosophical about the game at the moment. I know they’re a league above us, but we want to be better.

“I don’t want teams coming here and dictating the play.

“The lads have been told that if Barcelona come here we’re not expecting them to have the lion’s share - we want to have the lion’s share.”

As for the penalties, Coleman was confident once Clark stepped up - for a second time.

He said: “It never entered my head Jordan would miss.

“And a lot of courage was shown by Mark Hughes and John O’Sullivan, having both missed penalties on the night, to go back up and do it again.”