Mark Hughes thought Bradford's 1-0 victory over Carlisle in the play-off semifinal was a terrific advertisement for Sky Bet League Two.
The largest audience in the fourth tier for this stage was 20,575 at the Valley Parade.
After 18 minutes, Jamie Walker scored the lone goal to give the Bantams the advantage for the rematch at Brunton Park the following Saturday.
"The atmosphere tonight was incredible," manager Hughes stated. I really enjoyed being a part of it, and it's a great depiction of League Two football. The supporters were also fantastic.
It was a close race. I anticipated it because us and Carlisle have faced off against each other throughout the season, but I simply felt like we got the upper hand tonight.We are happy with how the game turned out, and the outcome is certainly significant to us.
We are aware that the second leg will be extremely challenging for us to complete.We played Carlisle tough in the first half, in my opinion, and won. At this level, you always have to win the 50/50 balls.They slightly avoided us in the second half, moved more directly, and attacked us with diagonals. I believed that physically we were up to the task.
Even though it's only by one goal, we're in the lead. But we'll go there with a cheerful attitude. We are aware that we can disrupt Carlisle.
After Scott Banks touched Andy Cook's flick-on into his path, Walker finished from just inside the box. Tomas Holy, the goalkeeper for Carlisle, denied Banks while he also came near with a cross-shot.
However, the Cumbrians were the superior team in the second half, and substitutes Ryan Edmondson and Kristian Dennis both had decent opportunities. The best opportunity was lost by Edmondson as he headed wide from Jack Armer's cross.
Paul Simpson, the manager of Carlisle, believed his team could have scored three goals and is optimistic about winning the game.
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