Graham Alexander started Andy Cook and Tyler Smith up front yesterday in City’s 2-1 home defeat to Barrow, a rare sight for those in attendance at Valley Parade.

And the new manager insists fans will not be seeing a lone man up front any more, as he applies his front-foot, goal-hungry philosophy to his latest team.

The 52-year-old told the T&A: “I’ve been a manager for 10 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever played just one striker at any of my teams.

“I’ve always had two or three lads up front, because I want my teams to score goals.

“I think sometimes strikers can be a bit isolated, and there can be too much pressure on them when they’re up top on their own.

“We want our strikers to have that support, and it’s not just the forwards we need to create. It’s our midfielders, full-backs and our centre-halves from set-pieces.

“Once we got our full-backs really growing into the game (yesterday), I thought that’s when we saw the best of us an attacking force.

“I thought we were a little bit safe in the first 20 minutes, but I don’t know how much Barrow’s first goal (after only 20 seconds) maybe affected certain players’ minds.”