Bradford City can and will go straight up, according to their upbeat chairman Geoffrey Richmond.

The second automatic Premiership promotion place now looks to be a straight fight between City and Ipswich Town and despite Ipswich being in the driving seat, with a three-point advantage, Richmond firmly believes that the Bantams spirit will see them through.

And now he is calling on the supporters to show the same confidence over the critical six final games.

Both clubs took maximum points from the two matches over Easter to maintain the intense competition between the two.

Rivals Bolton and Birmingham, still mathematically in contention for second place, each took just one point after suffering surprise home defeats on Monday.

With only six matches to play, Ipswich still have a three point lead over third-placed City -79 against 76 - with fourth-placed Birmingham a further seven points adrift.

But City have scored more goals - 71 against 63 - which will be the deciding factor if the sides are level on points. Ipswich look to have a much tougher run-in than City, including games against top six rivals Bolton and Birmingham.

Richmond, who believes the T&A The Only Way is Up campaign is playing a big part in City's promotion effort, said: "I believe it is a two horse race between ourselves and Ipswich and whoever's nerve is the stronger will win.

"I have every reason to believe our nerve will remain strong. With the depth we have in our squad and a continuation of the fantastic support we had at Bury on Monday we can and will do it."

While City are still three points away from their early season objective - a place in the play-offs - Richmond said: "Mathematically we are not sure, but in the real world we can be extremely confident of a play-off place.

"Play-offs might well have been our initial target, but our new target is to go up automatically.

"Team spirit is extremely good and what must be worrying from Ipswich's perspective is that despite taking 31 points from the last 36 played for they still have us hanging on to their coat-tails.

"If you disregard the first seven matches of the season when we gained only five points we have taken 71 points from 33 matches which is not just promotion form but championship form.

"While we are not taking anything for granted, we have an outstanding chance of going up in second place."

Richmond is full of praise for the Bantams' supporters and knows how much they mean to the team. "The support we had at Bury on Monday gave an unbelievable lift to the players. That's what we need against Portsmouth at Valley Parade on Saturday, at Port Vale next Tuesday and at all the remaining matches.

"We have been anxious all season to play down our chances - the time has arrived to play up the club's prospects.

"Not only can we do it, but it is my belief we will do it. That belief is based on faith in the squad and the football we play and an analysis of the remaining matches of both sides."

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