Graham Alexander wants to get to bottom of Bantams home woe

Last night’s loss to struggling Forest Green means the Bantams have won just six out of 18 matches in their own stadium.

Alexander has chalked up three home wins from 11 attempts since taking over in November – compared with five out of nine away victories.

The City chief wants to find out why there is such a disparity.

“How we prepare for a game at Valley Parade is something we have to look at,” he admitted.

“Are we doing things different here in the final hour or 75 minutes in the changing room that we don’t do away from home?

“If there’s an issue, you have to find a solution for it and that could be anything.

“Our away record is excellent but it’s the draws at home when we’ve been the dominant team and should have won and the opposition have taken valuable points off our tally.

“At home there’s been that extra pressure on us and the league table builds that up.

“We have to take that out of our heads if we can. I believe we have performance-wise but Doncaster we weren’t good enough first half and last night was the same.”

City host leaders Mansfield on Saturday before Notts County’s rearranged visit next Tuesday. Alexander will sit down with the players at training today to discuss what changes are needed.

He added: “We didn’t really speak after the game because it was too raw but I will gather their thoughts.

“There are a lot of lads who have been here a lot longer than me and I think it’s a recurring theme at Valley Parade.

“You’ve got to look at the circumstances. Away teams always play differently compared to what they do at other grounds.

“I think some of the decisions are different. It’s almost as if refs want to prove a point by not being swayed by the crowd even if it’s the right decision.

“But that’s another thing we have to forget about because we can’t control that.

“What we have to focus on is our mental and physical preparation, being right tactically and how we start a game.

“We did correct it and that’s the first time in quite a while we’ve been hurt like that early on in a game.

“But it’s certainly happened often enough to take points off our total.

“It’s not just this season. It’s been quite regular season after season that a Bradford team wins more away games than home.

“It’s certainly something we have to fix. If it’s the opposition doing something different, we have to do something different to overcome it.”

Clarke Oduor did not have the same attacking impact last night (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Alexander remains mystified at the way City started last night’s game, giving away a corner from Forest Green’s first attack – which allowed the visitors to grab a lead that they never gave up.

“Any team can score off a set-piece. It’s a good delivery and an experienced centre forward gets across someone.

“But it’s how the corner was conceded. They take the kick off and play it forward 40 yards and we’re 20 yards deeper than where the ball lands.

“That’s not us. Everything we do is on the front foot and we need to get to the bottom of that.

“We’ve got quite a strong team with physically dominant players. But we were nowhere near the challenge and that allowed them to get into our box and we give a cheap corner away.

“We were then severely punished for it.”

City would have cut the gap to the play-offs to four points with a win and defeat came as a huge setback after the way they had played at Accrington at the weekend.

“There are a lot of players learning harsh lessons in consistency,” said Alexander.

“It’s a bit like snakes and ladders. We get there and slide down again.

“It’s something we have to correct, without a shadow of a doubt, because mid-table is not good enough.”