Colchester boss Danny Cowley on challenge of facing Bantams

Cowley’s Colchester host the Bantams tomorrow looking to end a run of seven league games without a win.

The 3-0 midweek victory over Arsenal under-21s in the EFL Trophy was their first since beating Tranmere by the same score on September 21.

And the U’s boss expects a tough afternoon against a team he expects to be in the promotion mix.

“It’s a good test against a team I would anticipate to be right in and around the automatic promotion places,” said Cowley.

“We know that we have to find our best performance if we want to get a positive result. We have a lot of respect for Bradford.

“They’re a huge club and naturally, there’s a big expectation that comes with a big club in League Two.

“They’ve got a very experienced manager in Graham Alexander and I think they’ve got some of the best players in the division.

“We have a good understanding of how they play and their strengths and I think they’re a team that can really mix their game up well.

“They’re definitely playing with a lot more control than maybe they have done in previous seasons, mixing it up and looking to build on the first line and play through the pitch.

“They also have the opportunity to play over with some physical forwards at their disposal, so I think they’ve got a nice balance to the way that they play.”

Cowley was strongly linked with the City hot-seat before Graham Alexander’s appointment last November.

He landed the Colchester job at the start of the year – and the 1-1 draw with City last season was his home debut in charge.

But the 46-year-old has won just eight of his 40 league games.

The Essex side finished third from bottom last season, three points above the relegation zone, and are down there again in 21st spot.

Andy Cook scores for City in last season's 1-1 draw at Colchester (Image: Thomas Gadd)

But they did grab a morale-boosting point at Barrow last week with a late equaliser from Lyle Taylor.

Cowley added: “For us, we’ve worked hard to try to find some momentum and I think we have some and we hope to take that energy into the game.

“Confidence is a very fragile commodity and when you do get some momentum, we know that this can breed confidence.

“We know the power of confidence and what it can do to player performance.

“We always try to attack our home games. We know how we want to play.

“We like to defend early, we want to get pressure on the ball whenever possible.

“Sometimes, teams don’t always allow you to do that but when they do, this is obviously how we like to play.

“When we’re in possession, it’s always to be purposeful and we like to play forward and think forward and run forward.”