Bradford City v Aston Villa: Bantams manager Phil Parkinson using Capital One Cup semi-final as distraction This cup has been a bonus, so let's keep a reality check on this. It's the first time in the club's history that we have been in the semi-final of this competition and, to get to Wembley, we will have to beat a big Premier League club over two legs. Having eliminated top-flight opposition twice this season - Wigan away and then, memorably, Arsenal at Valley Parade last month - Bradford are now facing up to a growing expectancy in West Yorkshire that they can achieve the hat-trick by overcoming a Villa team sitting just one point above the Premier League relegation zone, with the first leg at home on Tuesday night. But Parkinson, whose managerial CV includes a promotion to the Championship with Colchester United in 2006, has warned that Paul Lambert's team will provide the toughest test yet for his fourth-tier squad. "My players are good players who can handle the ball and they weren't fazed against Arsenal in the quarter-final," Parkinson said. But they have to do it again against Villa because this is a bigger game, this is a semi-final. As I said before the Arsenal game, we have to play to our maximum against teams of this calibre and represent the club well. Against Arsenal, that approach took us through to the next round. Who knows what can happen against Aston Villa, but let's be realistic about it. As the only English manager among the semi-finalists, Parkinson acknowledges that opportunities for home-grown coaches can be limited, but he points to Roy Hodgson taking charge of England as a turning point for the industry in this country. "People come from all over the world to take the FA coaching badges, so it always frustrated me that the FA would then look abroad for the England manager," Parkinson said. It was a bit of an insult really to the work that all of the English managers were doing in this country. We had all done the FA's courses, yet they still felt they should go abroad and look for a manager. Most people within the game found that baffling, but Roy Hodgson's appointment is definitely good for the game and a sign of progress for English managers. We now have somebody at the head of our game who is English and that's how it should be. Management, Parkinson concedes, is a brutal business, though, and he will have no qualms if Lambert suffers the same fate as Arsène Wenger by seeing his team lose at Bradford. "Steve Parkin [Parkinson's assistant] is very good friends with [Arsenal coach] Steve Bould and Steve came in and had a glass of wine after we beat Arsenal," Parkinson said. I didn't get a chance to see Arsène, but it hurts when you lose as a manager, it really does. We all have empathy between us because we know how tough a job it is, particularly in the Premier League. Paul has done exceptionally well to be managing a club of the stature of Aston Villa, but with that comes expectation and problems. He will see this game as a chance to get to Wembley, of course, but Villa's Premier League status is the key for him. To join the debate ahead of the Semi Finals of the Capital One Cup, visit facebook.com/capitaloneuk