Brad Halliday welcomes Bantams' competition with Jay Benn

Halliday has fought his way back into the team after being dropped for the Lincoln loanee.

Benn is hopeful of recovering from the illness that saw him miss the last two games as the Bantams build up to Saturday’s Yorkshire derby with Doncaster.

There is a mutual respect between the pair and reigning player of the year Halliday is happy to help the impressive summer arrival continue his progress.

Halliday said: “I think everyone's seen the qualities he possesses, especially going forward with the quality deliveries he puts in the box.

“It’s healthy competition and we’ll push each other. Whoever's playing, we both want the same thing and we're both going to give 110 per cent for the team.

“The main thing is about winning games and keeping the momentum going regardless of who's playing.

“Jay’s still young and he's got a bright future ahead of him, so the more I can help him and give him that experience that he'll need later on in his career, the better.”

Graham Alexander has praised Halliday’s attitude for the way he took the shock of being left out after being subbed off at half-time in City’s last defeat against Harrogate.

He earned a recall when Neill Byrne woke up ill on the day of the Tranmere game – with Halliday thrust into an unfamiliar role as the right-sided centre half in the back three.

“I really enjoyed it. You could probably put me anywhere on the pitch and I'll know what the manager wants for that specific role.

“So, the manager deserves credit for giving us such clear instructions. You could have put anywhere in there and they’d have known what to do.

“It was obviously unfortunate for Byrner that he was ill, but obviously on the other side of the coin, I was happy to step in and do that role for the team.

“I might maybe do it a few more times from now till the end of the season.”

City could not make it four wins on the bounce as they had to settled for a draw with Cheltenham. But Halliday saw it as another solid result to keep the current run going.

“We were below par all across the board in the first half. But we spoke about that at half-time and after that we dominated.

“If any team looked like winning, it was us. We just maybe needed that clinical edge in the final third, that little bit of magic or whatever to get that goal.

“But it’s a good point and it keeps us going in the right direction.”

Jay Benn took Brad Halliday's place in the Harrogate game (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Halliday was impressed with the amount of travelling support who made the journey to Gloucestershire – and believes that backing can be a powerful asset again for the eagerly-anticipated Valley Parade clash this weekend.

“I know there's obviously that rivalry there and with it being a former club of mine, I want to beat them,” he said.

“We know that Doncaster are a really good team and we know their strengths.

“But we’ll work to come up with a plan and it’s going to be buzzing with a big crowd there. These are the games you want to play.

“It was just amazing that we took over 400 travelling fans on a Tuesday night to Cheltenham. The supporters are such a massive part for us.

“We know they always turn out in numbers and Valley Parade will be the same on Saturday. It’s going to be rocking.

“The lads take the energy they can feel from around the stadium and sometimes that does project on the pitch.

“You saw that last week, when we went behind and there was no panic. We knew we were the stronger team and it didn’t affect us.

“We went on to win the game and probably should have made it a little bit more comfortable for ourselves.”