JAY Benn insists City will shake off their away-day blues after the hurt of Colchester.

The Bantams conceded nine minutes into added time in Saturday’s draw and are now four games without a league win.

“We were 30 seconds away from the result,” admitted defender Benn.

“But it will come, I know it will. I believe in the lads and the gaffer.

“It happens to every team. You get stuck on a little run like this and struggle sometimes to get out of it.”

Andy Cook had put City ahead after half an hour with his 11th goal of the season.

But Colchester grabbed a dramatic equaliser through Jamie McDonnell’s free header from the last corner of the game.

Benn added: “Until the final whistle blows, you need to have your man and know where you need to be.

“It’s just killed us and we need to look back on why that’s happened. It definitely hurts.

“It was carnage when the keeper came up but you’ve still got to defend it.

“I don’t care how many people are up, you’ve got to fight for that first contact. You see a man, you grip a man, you get hold of him and do what you can.

“We haven’t done that and you can’t always rely on Sam (Walker) to pull us out of it.

“I know it happens in football but we can’t let that happen to us.

“It’s a mentality thing as well. When you see the 10 minutes go up on the board, you realise there’s still quite a lot left of the game.

“We drop off a little bit more and they start adding more pressure and making runs forward.

“You’ve got to be able to manage that but we’ve all been in games where that’s happened.

“There’s a lot of experience in our team so it shouldn’t be something that affects us.”

City are two points outside the play-offs, having moved up two places with the draw. But that is no consolation for Benn.

“When it’s so close to the end, it feels like a loss. It’s a point on the road but that’s not good enough for where this club wants to be and needs to be.

“You want to win every game regardless of the run you’re on. But there’s a bit more pressure when the results may not be going your way.

“The point has put us up to eighth which shows how tight it is in the league but it’s still annoying.”

Andy Cook leaves Colchester bemused after his goalAndy Cook leaves Colchester bemused after his goal (Image: Thomas Gadd)

City will check on the condition of Lewis Richards after he was forced off with a shoulder injury – a lengthy delay which led to the increased amount of time added on at the end.

It seems to be a never-ending casualty list so far this season.

“It’s a snowball effect sometimes,” added Benn. “When things aren’t going your way, others just seem to be added on.

“I’m sure we’ll deal with it. We’ve had a lot of injuries and that’s put some square pegs in round holes.

“But you trust every one of the lads to give 100 per cent and we’ll just have to fill the slot.”