Bradford ease past Chesham to reach FA Cup third round

Phil Parkinson's Bradford booked their place back among the FA Cup big guns after comfortably seeing off Southern Premier Division Chesham 4-0 to reach the third round.First-half goals from Kyel Reid and James Hanson paved the way for a comfortable win for the League One side, and rekindled memories of last season's shock march to the quarter-finals.Substitutes Gary Liddle and Devante Cole made the final scoreline harsh on their opponents by slotting home further goals in injury time.The non-leaguers had arrived at Valley Parade with a good reputation after winning at Bristol Rovers in the previous round but with 104 places separating the two sides, the Bantams were always likely to prove tougher to crack.And Parkinson made his intentions clear by naming a full-strength line-up featuring five of the starting XI for last season's historic 4-2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.Despite an encouraging start from the Generals, cheered by a band of 500 travelling fans, Reid's 22nd-minute opener effectively spelled the end of their marathon FA Cup run.Ryan Blake had a number of early chances for the visitors with the best of them blocked by Rory McArdle then blazed narrowly over the bar from a Brad Watkins cross.At the back, marshalled by Nick Beasant - son of 1988 Cup winner Dave, who watched from the stands - Chesham stayed solid until Reid sprang clear to drill a low shot past Shane Gore from the edge of the box.The goal spurred the League One outfit into life with Stephen Darby having a strong penalty shout turned down then Gore pulling off a brilliant one-handed save to stop a Hanson header.Billy Clarke fired across the face of goal before Hanson made it two two minutes before the break when he raced onto a superb long ball by Evans to fire first time past the helpless keeper.Blake missed a chance to reduce the deficit early in the second half when he charged down a back-pass, and the hosts ought to have made him pay with Tony McMahon firing over the bar, Clarke heading just wide and Billy Knott also narrowly missing the target.With 23 minutes remaining Chesham boss Andy Leese brought on 43-year-old Barry Hayles - a former semi-finalist with Fulham - and the visitors came close again through a long-range effort from Sam Youngs.Substitute Dave Pearce missed Chesham's last chance to put some pressure on the hosts in the dying minutes when he danced into the left side of the Bradford box only to shoot wide of the target.And Bradford put the gloss on their display in injury time when Liddle flicked home from a corner then Cole produced a neat finish from inside the six-yard box to make it four.