Graham Alexander's reaction as Bantams crash at Swindon

The Bantams have now gone seven games since their last league victory after losing to a home side who had picked up just four points from their previous eight.

Jake Young came off the bench for the second half to put the speculation about his own future to bed.

But by then, City were staring down the barrel after trailing 2-0 following an awful first period.

“The first half was nowhere near the level of commitment, as in duels, challenges, runs – the basics of football,” said Alexander. “It wasn’t acceptable.

“It was too easy to get in behind us and get through us. We didn’t play with that level of connection that we have done in previous games.

“We have to understand the level of competitiveness in professional football is high. Everyone is pumped up for a game.

“What we were really good at was we dominated the opposition in a mental sense. We were in their faces and didn’t give them any time on the ball.

“We haven’t managed to do that in the first half in the last couple of games and we’ve put ourselves on the backfoot by conceding.

“The last two first halves we’ve been blunt. We haven’t had an edge and an intensity to our game.

“Bradford City fans want to see a committed team that are really aggressive, on the front foot and want to attack. That’s what we’ve been giving them until the last two games.

“We were just missing a little bit of quality in front of goal but we haven’t had anywhere near the amount of pressure.

“We still had good chances which we don’t take but we can’t hide the performance behind that. We have to front up and say it wasn’t good enough.”

Young was thrown on as part of a treble change at the break which saw top scorer Andy Cook benched. Alexander admitted he could have made more changes.

“It was going through my head in the final five minutes of the half. We had to change.

“We changed it in a couple of other positions and then a couple of others. I wanted to have energy and the players needed to know it wasn’t good enough.

“Sometimes it’s not just the performance of individuals. We need an injection of what’s on the bench and stuff like that.

“I’m not going to go overboard with the players. I’m here to help them do a job.

“I’ve seen both sides of the squad through the excellent run we had a month ago and then the last two games, which have been the opposite of that.

“We knew there were things to fix when we came on. We just had to discover them and work really hard with the players to make those improvements.”

Charlie Austin celebrates after firing Swindon's penalty opener (Image: Thomas Gadd)

City rejected three offers for Young during the transfer window, including two from League One, and Alexander was pleased they stood firm to get the 22-year-old back on the pitch.

“It’s been a countdown to when he was available,” he added. “We’ve obviously had numerous bids so I’m really pleased the club has shown the belief that we want to be successful.

“We didn’t let him go out on the cheap. We want him here.

“We know at some stage players go beyond a certain club and certain level. We don’t feel Jake’s there yet – or the bids were.

“We still feel we can enjoy him and get him to help us win games of football.

“Today has been a day I’ve been planning towards as in waiting for him to recover from his injury, get him up to speed in training and then pick him when he was available.”

But there was no Tyreik Wright after suffering an injury in his comeback game against Salford on Tuesday.

Alexander said: “He picked up a little strain just before he came off the other day.

“He didn’t think it was anything of note. But we sent him for a scan as a precaution and unfortunately he’s got a little nick in there, so he’ll be out for a couple of weeks.”