Bradford City boss happy with night against Barnsley

The Bantams romped to a 5-1 win over Barnsley at Valley Parade to ensure they topped Group F of the Northern Section in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

That guarantees City a home tie in the last-32 and Alexander was proud of his players for building on their recovery job against Notts County on Saturday, where they reduced an embarrassing 4-0 half-time deficit to 4-2 by the final whistle.

Speaking after last night’s comprehensive win, Alexander said: “I was definitely impressed with the players, who continued where they left off on Saturday.

“The second half at Notts County was much improved, in terms of performance and effort, but we had to make sure we continued that in the same way tonight and we did.

“We scored a really early goal but didn’t take a step back, as it encouraged us to be more aggressive and more on the front foot.

“We scored a couple more before the break, but we wanted to continue that in the second half, rather than just sit back and try and see out the game.

“We grabbed a couple more goals by doing that, then got a bit sloppy for a 10 or 15 minute period, thinking the game was done, so that’s something we have to correct, as I want us to keep our foot to the floor for the whole game.

“But we re-established our composure and decision-making in the last 10 minutes and saw the game out.

“It was nice to have five different scorers too and it was a great response to the result on Saturday.”

Only two of Barnsley’s starting XI started their last League One game, a defeat to Derby, whereas City retained six of the players who began their match at Notts County.

Brad Halliday was everywhere on Saturday, but there was no rest for him, as he played the full 90 minutes last night too. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

And while the Bantams lined up with a fairly experienced squad, Barnsley gave several young guns a go.

Alexander reflected: “Whoever you’re facing, you’ll still come up against good players.

“There were lads in their squad that get games at the top of League One, but it’s about what our team do anyway, in a mental and physical capacity, how we approach the game.

“It sounds weird after a 4-2 defeat, but I think we got a little bit of a confidence boost from the second half on Saturday, because we completely turned our performance around against a very good team.

“We had a point to prove to ourselves, that we could continue playing like that for a full game, which we did tonight.

“I’m sure this Saturday’s game (at home to Accrington Stanley) will be another tough test, so we have to make sure we understand, there’s still a lot of work to do to get where we want to be.”

Harry Chapman made just his second start of the season last night, while Vadaine Oliver made his first appearance of the campaign off the bench with 20 minutes to go.

Chapman and Oliver have had their issues with long-term injuries this year, but thankfully they came through unscathed last night, with Alexander very much having the pair in his thinking going forward.

He said: “It has been hard for them.

“Vadaine’s not really trained with us much to be fair. I had a chat with him yesterday (Monday) and asked him if he felt giving him 20 minutes tonight was a better option than a training session.

Vadaine Oliver agreed with Graham Alexander that the best way to build up his fitness was to get a runout last night, rather than a Monday training session. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

“He was positive about that, which was good, and I had a good chat with Chappers last week to see where he was at physically.

“He still felt he had more in the tank tonight, but we just wanted to make sure he came off with a big tick against his name after about an hour of playing well.

“It was important he came off fit, so he could be ready to compete for a spot in the team on Saturday.

“It was a really good night from that perspective, as if you can win, but also bring players into your team to show you what they can do, that’s ideal.

“I know what they’ve done in the past in their careers, but it’s about what they can do in the here and now for Bradford City.

“We know we’ve got good players here, but they have to show that to me.”

A satisfying night all round means the Bantams have romped into the knockout stages, but asked if that means excitement can finally start to build about the competition for him and his squad, Alexander insisted: “It’s always real for me.

“I’m not one of those people who, when it gets to the later rounds, with the final round the corner, all of a sudden I start taking it seriously.

“I told the players yesterday to approach this game in the right way.

“We prepared for it yesterday and approached it in the exact same fashion as we would any league game.

“We’ll continuing doing that every time we put a Bradford City shirt on.

“It’s so important we represent our club, ourselves, our families.

“Every time you cross that white line, you have to be ready to compete and our team did that tonight.”