Andrew Davies is a game lad – and that’s all he wants from City.

The former England under-21 international has played at the top level and believes he can get back up there.

But he needs the platform to prove it and sees his three-month stint at Valley Parade as the launch pad.

Dropping down to League Two naturally weighed on his mind when the Stoke centre half was looking at where to go next to get his faltering career up and running.

But one demand overrode any doubts about his new environment – the need to play games again and lots of them.

“If I can get maybe 15-20 games in this spell, then that will do me the world of good,” said Davies.

“I’m out of contract in the summer and this is an important time for me in my career. I’m only 26.

“I’d known of Bradford’s interest and I didn’t want to wait around much longer playing reserve games and stuff like that. I just want to play football.

“Of course it was a tough decision (to drop down the divisions) but I’m a passionate lad. I know what division I can play in.

“I’ve played in the Premier League and the Championship. All I need is to play games and if I do that regularly then I’ll get back to that level.”

His appearance against AFC Wimbledon was his first for six weeks since a brief loan with Crystal Palace.

As with Craig Fagan, Kyel Reid and Jamie Devitt, Phil Parkinson knows that Davies needs to get back on the treadmill of playing week in, week out.

Parkinson said: “Andrew did exceptionally well to get through the game. Again, he is another one who hasn’t had that much football.

“We’ve got players in there who are playing catch-up in terms of fitness. You can look at that as an excuse but it’s a fact.

“But I know the individuals we’ve brought in, like Andrew, will make a positive difference going forward to the club.”

At least Davies will have had a full week of training with his latest club ahead of the Burton trip. He had just one session at Apperley Bridge before being thrown in against the Wombles.

Davies said: “It wasn’t going to be easy because it was the first time we’ve played together. But we can work on things in training.

“I’ve trained with quite a lot of good players over the years and I’ll try to pass on what they passed down to me.”

Confidence has understandably dipped with recent results but Davies is upbeat about City’s prospects and hopes seeing a fresh face in the ranks will help.

He said: “You can tell everyone’s down a little bit at the moment but the lads have just got to pull together. You know what football’s like – get a couple of results and things can change quickly.

“We conceded a couple of sloppy goals (last week) and we know we can do better. I’ll be trying my hardest to help turn things round.

“It will be tough for me just to get through a lot of games but that’s my main priority for coming here. I haven’t managed to play game after game since I was at Southampton three years ago.”