CIARAN Kelly can sense things are beginning to click under Graham Alexander.
The new City boss made it back-to-back wins in charge with a first league victory at the weekend against Accrington.
Kelly claimed the assist for Tyler Smith’s well-taken goal that ended a four-game losing streak – and moved the Bantams back towards mid-table.
The big Irishman believes Alexander’s approach is starting to pay off.
Kelly said: “It’s only been a few weeks and he’s finding his feet as well,” said the big Irishman.
“Training’s been tough but it’s good for us. We’ve been doing a lot of running and that showed as we put in a big shift.
“We’re learning new things every day and I think it’s slowly starting to click now with the new gaffer.”
Alexander’s is the fourth different voice in charge this season for the players after Mark Hughes and caretaker duo Kevin McDonald and Mark Trueman.
“It’s tough because they all have their own tactics and what they want to do,” added Kelly.
“But you’re a football player and need to do what they want. Hopefully we’re doing that now.
“We're not going to get ahead of ourselves but that’s two wins on the bounce and we want to continue that.
“It’s never going to be vastly different but there’s obviously a few changes here and there, like corner set-ups.
"But we’ve been learning them on the practice pitch and bringing them into the game.”
Smith’s goal was his third since Alexander was appointed and Kelly feels it’s important to share the load with top scorer Andy Cook.
“We know Andy is a top striker and will get us goals. But it’s nice to take the pressure off his shoulders every now and again.
“Tyler coming in and doing that is great and can only push Andy on to score as well.
“He wants to be in contention for the Golden Boot again and stuff like that so the two of them up there can stand us in good stead.
“Cooky is a massive threat up top with his heading ability. We like to mix it up a bit but obviously we like to hit Andy with Tyler getting in behind.”
Kelly was forced off with cramp before the end of Saturday’s win, having suffered the same in the EFL Trophy game against Barnsley.
Alexander does not see it as an issue for tomorrow’s trip to Forest Green but is keen to get to the bottom of the problem.
The City chief said: “I’m still getting to learn about the individuals. I don’t think it’s good that a young player is getting cramp so that’s something we have to look at.
“We don’t want a good player to come out of the team for something as small as cramp.
“We train in an intensive way to prepare the players for how we want to play. We’ve been here two weeks so it’s not enough to get them up to the levels we’d expect.
“It’s not through their commitment to train because they work exceptionally hard.”
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