GRAHAM Alexander applauded City’s character after they rescued a point against Morecambe.

The Bantams were heading for a home defeat to end their six-game winning run as they trailed 2-0 at half-time.

But they recovered strongly in the second half with goals from Clarke Oduor and Brad Halliday ensuring the first Boxing Day fixture at Valley Parade in six years ended in a draw.

And it could have been even better with a seventh successive success when Andy Cook’s header hit the Morecambe bar in the closing minutes.

Alexander said: “Over the course of a season you’re going to be challenged in many different ways and face many different hurdles.

“But you’ve got to have the belief in each other and as a team that there is the ability and quality to do whatever it takes to win a game of football.

“We showed that in the second half. There were some really professional performances and didn’t give them anything.

“We had three or four really good chances – we took two of them and missed a couple we’d probably score on another day.

“We knew we weren’t going to win every week between now and the end of the season.

“It’s about taking whatever we can when it’s there on offer. I was okay with a point.”

City were missing both Jamie Walker and Alex Pattison, who had pulled up at the end of the Doncaster game.

Alexander brought in Emmanuel Osadebe to replace Walker – but subbed him for Oduor at the break with the Bantams “in a bit of a pickle”.

The City chief added: “It was a difficult scenario but we made some changes at half-time, not just with the sub but tactically and the players took it on board.

“With about five minutes to go of the first half, I would have taken 2-0 because they had a couple of other breakaways. It wasn’t terrible but I just didn’t want it to get any worse.

“We had to be a bit more patient in our build-up. We were too high in our build-up, expecting to score, but we corrected it and deservedly got something out the game.”

The equaliser was Halliday’s first goal of the season – and he also claimed an assist with the cross that led to Oduor’s strike.

“It was a brilliant finish from Brad,” said Alexander. “Ciaran Kelly put in a great ball and he’s really committed to getting into goal-scoring positions and took it well.

“We can’t just rely on Andy Cook to score and we haven’t done that. We’ve shown that we’ve got a few weapons in our armoury.”