STRIKER Francois Zoko has been backed to kick on after his first City goal got them back to winning ways in time for the FA Cup.

The Ivorian, starting for the first time after 13 substitute appearances, clinched a scrappy 1-0 win over Crawley at a testing Valley Parade last night.

Zoko was one of seven changes from the weekend defeat at Peterborough and Phil Parkinson was delighted with the showing of his 'shadow' squad.

The Bantams boss revealed how pleased the players were to see Zoko finally up and running after he headed home from a Mark Yeates cross.

"The lads are delighted for Francois and it was great to hear that when we got back in the dressing room," said Parkinson.

"They are all genuinely pleased for him because he's been great around the squad. Things haven't been going well for him, in terms of him getting frustrated that he hadn't got a goal, but we kept saying to him to keep working hard and the chances will come.

"He's got a scoring record and that goal will do him the world of good. Sometimes you earn that bit of luck and I thought Francois deserved that with his performance."

Matty Dolan and Chris Routis were also thrown in as Parkinson freshened up his resources on the eve of Saturday's quarter-final with Reading.

He said: "We've been frustrated to lose the last two games. We've put the effort in but lacked a spark and I thought we got that back last night in difficult conditions.

"It was possibly a gamble but the staff all felt the same. Somewhere along the line the likes of Routis, Dolan and Zoko had to start because we're going to need them.

"Let's be fair, Dolan was magnificent in centre midfield, Zoko got the goal and Chris put in a great shift in an unfamiliar role. The lads who came in played really well.

"It was always going to be a war of attrition and we stood firm. We saw the benefit of big Gary MacKenzie at the back having a couple of games under his belt.

"We were resilient and committed and stood strong – all the things you need to be on a heavy pitch."

Parkinson had feared that the game would not go ahead following days of wet and wintry weather.

He admitted: "I was very nervous. Late on Monday I didn't think the game had a chance of being on because the forecast was a lot worse than what actually came our way.

"But we really wanted to get it on and (groundsman) Mick Doyle and his staff worked very hard to do that.

"We needed it for many reasons, the main one being we wanted to get back to winning ways. That gives us a huge boost going into the weekend.

"That's probably the heaviest the pitch has been since the Colchester game. You can't do anything with the weather and I think the ref did well to make the game go ahead and not make too big a deal of it."