Peter Jackson will try to lift City’s chins off the floor by reminding them: Survival is still in our hands.

Last night’s 4-0 thumping at Southend leaves the Bantams, who are still six points off the drop zone, helplessly watching the results of their rivals this afternoon.

Jackson was bitterly disappointed with the no-show at Roots Hall but he is determined to stir an immediate reaction for the huge home game against fellow strugglers Burton on Tuesday.

He said: “We’re now seriously in a relegation battle and that is a must-win game for us. It’s a huge occasion and there’s going to be a lot of tension.

“But it’s still in our hands to stay up and that’s what I will keep telling the players. We’re back in tomorrow and we’ll go again.

“It’s not as if we need three points with two games to go. Games are running out but there is still plenty of time.

“But more defeats like that and heads are bound to drop. Everybody will be watching the other results to see where we are.

“They’ve all got tough games but, in this division, teams at the bottom can beat those at the top. Hopefully that doesn’t happen.”

Jackson will hope his injury problems ease and James Hanson, Kevin Ellison and Steve Williams are fit to return after missing the latest loss.

He said: “We might have one or two back and hopefully Hanson. You saw what Barry Corr did to us and Hanson can be a handful like that on his day.

“I had seven players missing through injury. That doesn’t help the squad but we should have done better.”

Scott Dobie blew City’s best chance at 2-0 down early in the second half when he failed to get a shot off as he tried to round goalkeeper Glenn Morris.

Jackson admitted: “Scott has got to score there and if that goes in, it could have been a different game. It was a major turning point.

“We can’t buy a goal at the moment but we’ve also switched off again defensively. We gave away a poor penalty and set-pieces are costing us. We gifted them three of the goals.

“Hopefully the results will go for us today but we can’t keep relying on that. We have to get a win from somewhere and we need that to be on Tuesday.”