Peter Taylor has urged City to strike while the iron’s hot against high-flying Notts County tonight.

The Bantams squandered a string of scoring chances on the way to defeat at Hereford.

Taylor is demanding a response at Valley Parade against the second-placed side, who have kept five clean sheets from six games.

And he hopes City learn their lesson from Edgar Street by converting spells of pressure into goals.

He said: “For me, our most disappointing performance was at Accrington Stanley. I think the players have done some good things in the games since then.

“Like Saturday, I thought we did well in the first 20 minutes. If we start the same tonight and we score then that will be well deserved.

“The only thing we didn’t do on Saturday was score. Really good strikers always get you a goal when you deserve one.

“We needed somebody to put the ball in the net.

“For 20 minutes I thought we looked a decent team. But we lost our way a little bit and Hereford got stronger.

“I know Notts County hammered Bradford at the start of the season so I’m sure the lads would like to bounce back from that one. More importantly, I’m looking for a positive response from Saturday.”

Omar Daley is set to start after being held back as a substitute at the weekend.

With Lee Bullock on a two-match ban, Taylor will either hand Ryan Kendall a full debut up front and drop Michael Flynn back to midfield or bring in Steve O’Leary.

County are unbeaten in eight games and have taken 16 points from a possible 18 under Steve Cotterill, who also went for the City job.

Taylor added: “Steve took over a very good team. We know they are in good form and will be tough.

“But I also feel on our day that we can beat the top teams, as we did against Rochdale and Rotherham.

“We won’t be fazed by it, no chance. We will start right.

“It’s not been a great season if you’re a fan of Bradford City. There haven’t been enough positive days.

“I think the last two home games have cheered them up a little bit, especially the Aldershot one where we showed a really good attitude.

“It’s that good attitude with a bit of bottle on the ball that I’m looking for.”

Flynn and Luke O’Brien are the only City players to have started all three previous clashes with County.

Flynn said: “When you play the top teams, you want to go out with a statement of intent and show we’re as good as them on our day.

“We’ve got ten games left and, apart from three or four who’ve got contracts, everyone else is playing for their Bradford and football careers.

“I definitely won’t take anything for granted.

“We’ve got a new manager who will hopefully be here for next season. He’s made some improvements already and we’ve got to impress him.”

Meanwhile, the club have received a “small” fine – thought to be £1,000 – by the FA for failing to keep to doping control regulations.

Joint-chairman Mark Lawn said: “You have to inform those taking samples where the players are at all times. Unfortunately, a player they were due to test wasn’t where he was expected to be.”

Our coverage of Bradford City on the T&A website is now better than ever. We have added a new section on League Two, with statistics, player profiles, an updated league table and all this season’s fixtures & results. Check it out at: telegraph andargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/