Bantams boss Graham Alexander braced for busy end to season

City have a clear training spell heading into a full-on finish to the campaign with 13 games scheduled for the last eight weeks.

With the trip to Barrow likely to be squeezed into a blank midweek in the final month, Alexander’s men can expect to be busy right to the wire.

With that in mind, the Bantams chief gave half the squad a “work from home” day despite Saturday being called off.

He said: “We gave a few boys the day off with a home training programme.

“We try to look ahead with the fixture list and obviously planned yesterday to be a recovery day for the majority of the players. The games programme suggested that.

“The disappointment of losing the game on Saturday would have been doubly compounded if we’d then said, ‘right, Monday you’re in training as well.’ “A lot of the players have played a lot of minutes. There were other lads who needed a bit of a top up so they trained.

“You have to be fluid in your plans and adaptable to whatever’s thrown at you at the last minute because that happens during a season.

“It was a bit of a mix-and-match day but we’re all back in now and bang at it looking forward to the game on Saturday.”

Ciaran Kelly and Lewis Richards had both been included in the 18 for Holker Street and Alexander feels the extra time will benefit both on their return.

“Ciaran had passed a fitness test on Saturday morning, which was good, and Lewis has gone through the protocol from the week before,” he added.

“We had a fit squad ready to play but they’ve obviously had to put that on the backburner for this week.

“Ciaran was obviously a concern for us after coming off in the EFL Trophy so abruptly after half-time. For him to be available was really good.

“It was a quick turnaround between games for Ciaran but he’s a tough boy and he was ready to play.

“The extra few days will make sure he’s in even better shape and available for selection.”

Lewis Richards is available again after his head injury (Image: Tom Pearson)

City have been in action for four of the last five midweeks and will host Doncaster and Forest Green in the next two Tuesdays.

Alexander is keen to ensure everyone is refreshed and ready for the big push as they try to pull back the current five-point deficit on the last play-off spot.

“That’s why we gave the lads who have played a lot of games in quick succession a bit of a down day, although they had a session to do on the GPS.

“We kept the other boys up to speed because we need everybody.

“The games are going to come thick and fast. We’re playing Saturday, Tuesday for the next couple of weeks and then the Barrow game will get squeezed in somewhere else as well.

“We need everybody in the best shape possible and that’s why we wanted to stick to our plan this week as much as we could.

“Everyone was back in today and will be tomorrow and then we’ll rev up for Saturday.”

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