Alex Pattison and Aden Baldwin feature in Bradford City draw

That’s what Graham Alexander will be hoping as he welcomed back “proper player” Aden Baldwin against Barrow last night.

The defender came through his first action since tearing a hamstring at Grimsby at the end of August.

Alex Pattison also played an hour as a starter and Ciaran Kelly was named on the bench following his ankle surgery three months ago.

Alexander said: “It’s still a risk with all of them because it’s not like preseason when you can give them three friendlies to get up to speed.

“They have to get up to speed in training but that hour will do Patto the world of good and the half hour for Aden. Ciaran looks really strong, so we’ve got players slowly coming back and we need them.”

Antoni Sarcevic is also getting close and Tyreik Wright as the City sick bay finally begins to clear.

Alexander insists they will need to bring players in and out for the hectic schedule to come. He made three changes for last night’s draw – although the Bantams only got going after making four subs at the hour point.

“I felt that’s what we needed to do with the team,” added Alexander. “The same lads, certainly Bobby (Pointon) and Jamie (Walker) in midfield, have been playing game in, game out for the last eight or nine games.

“I thought they looked a bit tired on Saturday and it might have been all right if we’d had another week.

“But with the game being within three days and another (Tuesday) one next week, I just thought this is the time the squad has to come into play.

“Last night was the right one to do it and we’ll probably have to do the same on Saturday. I feel like we should do because we need a load of energy going into the game.”

Alexander was delighted to see summer recruit Baldwin back after his lengthy time out.

“You could see his quality in possession. He’s a proper player.

“He takes the ball and uses it well, he’s a good defender. That’s why we brought him here and we’ve missed him for a long time.

“It was a risk to start him because he’s had no game time at all. But we thought there’d be an opportunity to bring him on at some point and it was good to see him on the pitch.

“We had Ciaran Kelly on the bench as well so slowly but surely, touch wood, we’re gaining a strong bench again.”

Andy Cook is yellow-carded by referee Thomas Parsons (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Alexander faces a call on who plays up front at Crewe this weekend as Andy Cook sits out a one-match ban following his fifth yellow card.

The striker was frustrated at being grabbed by Barrow centre half Chris Stokes and caught Dean Campbell late when the ball ran loose.

The City boss said: “It wasn’t a booking. He gets battered before it.

“I don’t know if people were influenced by Saturday’s red card and how the opponent reacted on that, it just seemed to be a very dramatic game considering we’re in England where you expect it to be physical.

“I didn’t even see a physical game out there, but the whistle was constant.

“Cooky will have to take it on the chin. We’ll have to look at how many bookings he could have potentially avoided – but I don’t think he could have avoided that one because he was just competing for a ball.

“It’s hard when the whistle is getting blown so many times. I thought they broke the game up well as the away team.

“Every time you went near them, they fell over and unfortunately got their rewards for that with double the amount of free-kicks (we had).

“That said, we didn’t play anywhere near with our movement and aggression in the attacking sense. I can’t remember their goalkeeper having to make many saves and we’ve created a lot of chances at Valley Parade.”