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GEORGE Lapslie did not think about the consequences when he tripped Peterborough striker Danny Ormerod.
His only concern was preventing the opponent from breaking away in City territory.
The inevitable yellow card for “taking one for the team” was his second in the Carabao Cup this season.
And it means he will not be involved for City’s glamour quarter-final at holders Manchester City.
A heavy price to pay for only two indiscretions in four rounds of the competition. But also an example of the selfless nature of Lapslie’s play, knowing that one more booking would keep him out for the last eight.
“It’s above my pay grade” was Michael Duff’s initial assessment when asked about the cup’s disciplinary structure where bookings are not wiped out until the semi-finals.
“I think it's five bookings in 19 games, the other threshold (in the league), so it's one in four,” said the Bantams boss.
“One in two is probably a little bit harsh, but it is what it is.
“One thing that it tells you again, he's not thinking about, ‘if I get booked in this game, I might miss this.’
“For me, he's doing the right thing for the team at that moment. Again, that's a subliminal thing. That's a conscious decision when you're playing a game of football.
“When that's embedded in the group, those subliminal decisions for the benefit of the team come out like that.”
Graham Alexander always spoke highly of Lapslie’s attitude when he’s not had the chance of a regular run in the side. Duff got an early glimpse of that after leaving him out for the Stevenage game.
“There's a little common room that the players all go and sit in and I walked in. He was sat there with his two daughters.
“We don't really know each other and I've just left him out of the squad.
“He could have made it awkward by asking, ‘why have you left me out of the team?’ He could have just walked out with his girls.
“But I had a really good chat with him and the girls for 20 minutes when the lads were warming up because it's dead time for me. I really enjoyed it.
“That's the good bit of building those relationships. Again, it probably tells you everything about him in terms of humility.”
Duff switched Lapslie to a central role against Peterborough so he could have a look at Antoni Sarcevic playing as the right-sided 10 again.
Lapslie had been used in the more advanced position at Oxford – and has operated under Alexander as a wing-back in the earlier Carabao and Jersey Mike’s Trophy ties.
Duff admits he is still trying to work out where he fits best into City’s system.
“Obviously, he's played lots of different positions. One thing he's good at is his energy.
“He's got some quality as well, but he can press. His out-of-possession stuff is really, really good.
“He gets us on the front foot, but he can handle the ball as well. With what we've got in those areas of the pitch, we've got three or four positions available to him.
“It helps us in terms of being versatile.”
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