Gary Locke will delay a hernia operation until the summer to help secure Bradford City's safety in Division One.

The abrasive midfielder had to come off midway through the first half of Saturday's 3-3 draw at Barnsley, clutching his groin.

Locke is banned for the next two games after clocking up ten yellow cards - and boss Nicky Law is hoping the enforced rest will help to nurse him through the remainder of the season.

Law said: "We have to decide whether we rest him and then try and get him through or he goes in now and has an operation.

"With the injuries we've got and the minimal squad here it's obviously going to have to be the first one.

"I just saw it after five minutes, he stretched for a ball and then kept feeling his groin.

"Gary said he was all right but obviously it got too much for him."

Locke's injury was the only setback after City's stirring fightback at Oakwell, where two late goals from Ashley Ward secured an unlikely point.

Law has demanded a never-say-die spirit from his troops and Ward said: "It's probably a little unfair on the last manager to say that he didn't have that fighting quality as well.

"But it shows by just looking on the pitch.

"We did well last week to come back from losing an early goal in difficult circumstances and we did the same on Saturday.

"I don't think anybody gave us a chance at 3-1 but we got it back and if we'd played another five minutes we might have won."

It is the first time the Bantams have gone two games without defeat since mid-November and Law wants his team to build-up a decent unbeaten run.

"We've got to take it into three matches and then four and so on as Steve Parkin has done with Barnsley.

"There's a lot of work to be done but it's important we keep picking points up and get as many as we can as quickly as we can.

"We need to get ourselves into a position of safety and then the chance might come to try a few different things."