Bantams captain Richie Smallwood blasts Valley Parade pitch

The skipper held up his hand for the poor defeat against Forest Green which punctured a six-game unbeaten run.

But he was also scathing in his criticism over the state of the Valley Parade pitch – as the Bantams prepare for more home action against leaders Mansfield and Notts County in the next five days.

Smallwood said: "It's the same for both teams but I'll be honest, it's not great.

"It's probably the worst pitch in the EFL, the ball doesn't bounce and it's so heavy on your legs.

"It's something that needs looking at because we're going into games not knowing if they're on, with not playing for two weeks we've got a backlog of games.

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"Setting off to the game we've got a pitch inspection, we don't know if the game's on, it's the pitch holding water - it's just not good enough.

"I'm not making excuses because we weren't good enough but it's one of the things on the side that needs improving.”

Referee Simon Mather was happy for Tuesday’s game to go ahead after inspecting the pitch at 4pm. But City will again be keeping their fingers crossed with two more home fixtures coming up in quick succession.

Smallwood added: "There's no time for it to get better and it's something we need to look at at the end of the season.

"I think a better pitch on Saturday helped the better players we've got to control the ball and shoot. That pitch is very unpredictable but it's the same for both teams.

"We try and do everything right off the pitch, we have afternoon naps, we eat the right food, we stretch and recover the best we can but not knowing if the game's going to be on is not ideal. That's just the situation we're in and we've got to get on with it.

"Some days we get it right and we play a style of play that can deal with that pitch and other teams can't but on Tuesday we started sloppy and it didn't work in our favour.

"We tried both routes and it didn't work for us. The pitch played a part but only a small part.”

Smallwood admitted it was a familiar story after Forest Green snatched a first-minute lead, allowing them to sit deep and frustrate the Bantams.

“It was same old, same old - we can create chances, we just can't break teams down and put it in the back of the net. It seems to have been the story for a while now.

"It was exactly what they wanted. They were playing five at the back anyway, so we knew we were going to have the ball and if we'd just seen out that corner it probably would have been a different game.

“But we didn't and we gave them what they wanted. They defended well, got some blocks in and defended crosses.

"Fair play to them, they're fighting for their lives. We're fighting for something much bigger and we need to be winning these games.”

Forest Green and boss Steve Cotterill enjoy their win (Image: @FGRFC_Official)

The play-off pursuit has suddenly got a lot more difficult although City have two games in hand on seventh-placed Wimbledon, who are seven points ahead.

"It's bitterly disappointing we couldn't continue our run,” added Smallwood. “Games are running out and we can't afford these slips we keep having.

"I totally understand the fans' frustration. It looked boring, it looked slow at times but you can't just keeping booting the ball forward to their 6ft 7in centre-half.”

City were booed off at half-time and the final whistle after losing to an opponent battling against relegation – the first league defeat for seven games.

Smallwood said: "We all make lots of mistakes and that's when the fans get frustrated. But they've got to try and stick with us because we're only trying to do the right thing.

“We're not trying to kick the ball out of play or pass to their man, we're trying to give them something to cheer.

"We try each game to get on the front foot and get the fans behind us because we know they can be a force. We're trying to win games, we want to get promoted, you're not going to win every game 3-0 like we did at Accrington because every game's different.

"We just need a bit of patience but we also all need to be better, every one of us."