CITY'S “juggernauts” have been told to hit top gear on the road when they rumble into Carlisle today.

The fifth-placed Bantams go north in search of a first away win since mid-October.

While their points tally at Valley Parade is the highest in League Two, Gary Bowyer admits that results on their travels must improve.

They head to fourth-from-bottom Carlisle, whose boss Chris Beech describes City as “one of those juggernauts” in the division.

Bowyer’s team plans have been thrown up in the air by the virus that has hammered his squad.

But he still wants to see them replicate their Valley Parade form on the road.

“That’s the challenge for us,” he said. “There is no other way to look at it.

“We need to improve our away record in terms of wins. The players are aware of that and want to do something about it.”

City have lost to Plymouth and drawn with Macclesfield and Leyton Orient since the last away win at Morecambe. The other away victories have come at bottom club Stevenage and Walsall.

Bowyer did not name his side against Salford on Saturday until an hour and a half before kick-off after losing James Vaughan and Adam Henley late on.

He will again wait to check his options today as the bug that hit the training ground last week continues to linger.

He added: “It’s probably one of the worst reasons for missing a game because you never know when it’s going to occur. Then, all of a sudden it spreads quite quickly.

“We live out of each other’s pockets for the majority of the year, dressing rooms, meeting rooms and dining rooms. So, once something like this picks up, it can be hard to go about trying to contain it.”

City were frustrated to be pegged back by Salford in a game they had dominated – a third draw in four.

But Bowyer insists the mindset within the squad remains upbeat despite seeing two points snatched away.

“It’s the old cliché that we’ll play a lot worse than that and win. There’s no doubt about that.

“Everybody’s positive and focusing on the next game. That’s the group as a whole.

“They understand that over a course of the season there are going to be ups and down and times where we won’t play very well and win and then we’ll play very well and not.

“It’s always about going through the process rather than always focusing on just the outcome.

“Look at the way the fellas went about it on Saturday and it was terrific. It will certainly come, that's for sure."