City need to get ugly at Crystal Palace tonight to break out of the rut which has dropped them down the First Division.

Since blasting to three opening wins, the Bantams have collected only eight points from eight games. Saturday's 3-0 loss to Wolves left them in ninth spot after three defeats in four in the league.

Now they face three away games in a week starting at Selhurst Park against a flying Palace side who have won five straight.Skipper Stuart McCall is demanding that City do not buckle under the weight of the demanding seven-day schedule.

McCall said: "I wouldn't say it's a make or break spell for our season, but we've got to show what we are made of. Palace have hit top form and are scoring a lot of goals and then Birmingham and Millwall away will also be very tough.

"Everyone knows when we are on song, we play good football and it's nice to watch. But we've got to do the horrible things in the game as well.

"It's no good just knocking the ball around, we've got to work really hard and fight for everything. We need to show the desire to get something from these games - and if we do lose a goal, we must have the determination to get it back.

"You don't get points for looking good. We've got to defend well and get back to being hard to beat again."

l City have been watching Aberdeen striker Robbie Winters. The speedy 26-year-old, capped once as a sub by Scotland, is out of contract at the end of the season. Manchester City are also tracking him.