Bradford boss ready for Boro cup challenge

Bradford manager Jim Jefferies can't wait for Middlesbrough's visit to Valley Parade on Monday for his first experience of FA Cup action.

The Bantams boss is relishing the chance to be involved in the world's most famous knock-out tournament, and is hoping his side can overcome fellow Premier League strugglers Boro in their third-round clash.

And Jefferies - who won the Scottish Cup when he was manager of Hearts in 1998 - is looking for City to record back-to-back wins for the first time this season following their 2-1 success at Leicester on January 1.

"I'm looking foward to it greatly - you get the buzz and hope to go as far as you can," he told Ananova.com.

"I get the same buzz as I did with the Scottish Cup, and I'm fortunate enough to have won it up there."

He added: "We've got our first away win, and I think if we can go and follow it up with another win - even though it's in the cup - back-to-back wins for the first time would be another step forward.

"There are smaller clubs than Bradford that have got to finals in other competitions - if you get the right draws and you get the right breaks on the day."

While the Premiership's bottom club could have hoped for an easier draw in the cup, Jefferies insists he is just glad that Bradford got home advantage in the tie.

"When the draws come around it's a matter of who comes out of the hat first - there's no point grumbling about who you'd like or who you would prefer - it's a case of you take what you get," he said.

"You just hope that you come out first, and we've got it at home so the initiative is with us.

"Middlesbrough are quite effective, and we know it will be tough because they have tightened up a bit as well and ground out a few results and hopefully it should be an intriguing game."

Jefferies is hoping that Monday's impressive victory at high-flying Leicester serves as a confidence-booster for his players - and believes the win was Bradford's best performance since his arrival in West Yorkshire.

He explained: "Obviously the result was the most important thing for us in our position, but what was pleasing is that it was the best performance we've had since I've taken over.

"We were nice and solid, worked hard and used the ball well, so I was quite pleased.

"We kept them very quiet - I know (Leicester boss) Peter Taylor says it's the worst they've played but you've got to give credit to Bradford for winning there.

"We were happy with the display and it was encouraging that we played as well as that."

The Bantams will already know their likely opponents should they beat Boro and progress to the next stage as the fourth-round draw will be made after Sunday afternoon's games.

Jefferies hopes that knowledge will spur his men on to victory, but the Scot insisted he would trade a cup run for the chance to stay in the top flight at the end of the season.

"Obviously we'd swap it for Premiership survival," he admitted. "But we want to try and be greedy as well - we want to try and have a good cup run and survive also."