Heartbreak for Wells after heavy defeat
Nahki Wells and Bradford City endured a miserable Capital One Cup final with Swansea City romping to a heavy victory at Wembley Stadium.With the Bantams three-goals down at the interval, Wells, a virtual spectator during a one-sided first half, suffered more heartache when he was substituted following the dismissal of Bradford goalkeeper Matt Duke on 57 minutes.Swansea. the overwhelming favourites, started the stronger side and took the lead on 15 minutes when Nathan Dyer fired into the far bottom corner after Duke could only parry an effort from danger man Michu.In the 40th minute Swansea doubled their lead when Michu was afforded too much time and space to pick his spot with a low, drilled left foot strike.Things went from bad to worse for Bradford after the break when they fell three-goals behind when Dyer grabbed his second with a neat close range finish.Bradford's misery was further compounded minutes later when Duke, who beat testicular cancer a few years ago, was adjudged to have pulled down midfielder Jonathan De Guzman in the area.Sub keeper Jon McLaughlin came on for the unfortunate Wells who cut a forlorn figure as he made his way to the dugout.De Guzman stepped up and converted the spot kick on 58 minutes to make it four nil, and in the final minute he added his second to complete one of the most lopsided scorelines in a cup final in recent memory.Bantams boss Phil Parkinson hailed his side's “incredible adventure” but admitted they were undone by a far superior team on the day.“Swansea are a very good side and you have to give them credit. Not to get to 1-0 at half-time was disappointing, then conceding again so soon after (half-time) was a huge blow.“It's been an incredible adventure for us but we would have loved to have given our fans something to cheer about.”Bradford had planed to sit back and absorb Swansea's pressure, said Parkinson, but the gulf in quality was evident early on with the Premier League side dominating throughout.“It didn't go according to plan to put it mildly,” he added.“We came here to sit deep and hoped to hit them on the counterattack but they were just too good for us.“We will dust ourselves down and enjoy the experience. Financially this cup final will esnure we're strong for years to come.”Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup said winning the final ranked amongst his proudest moments because they are such a small club compared to the European giants he once played for."So it's third time lucky for me at Wembley," he said. "But I don't think I can compare this title today with something I have done before, for the simple reason that its one thing to win when you are playing for Barcelona or Juventus, but to win it with a smaller club is absolutely fantastic."It is Swansea's first major trophy ever and to win it in this, the centenary season, is up there with the best things I have done because it is completely different."For even more pictures click hereand here