Bradford City trying to solve away-day issues at Colchester

The Bantams hit the road again tomorrow for Colchester on the back of last week’s defeat at Fleetwood.

City have suffered successive league losses to drop outside the play-off places following a fourth defeat on their travels.

“I believe the tough times are the biggest growth period for a group,” said a defiant Alexander.

“That’s when you understand who you are sat next to in the changing room, who you are playing in front of or behind on the pitch.

“That’s when at half-time you understand the players you are going to compete with.

“Post match when it doesn’t go well and how they respond on a Monday or Tuesday in training. Are they a loser and quit or are they a winner and keep competing?

“That’s where it’s really exposed for everyone.

“We don’t want to go through these times because you want to win every week. But you also understand they do come along and how do we come out of it better?

“That’s the same with every setback you are facing as a professional.”

City boasted the third best away record in League Two last season behind promoted Stockport and Mansfield.

But they have lost half of their road games so far – with slow starts having a big impact in those results.

That is something Alexander and his coaching staff have been working to address in training this week.

“We’ve looked at it because there is a pattern,” he added. “It’s not black and white but we have to address that, like we did when we had issues at Valley Parade when we first came in.

“We tried to fix them and pick up the wins and results we felt we were capable of getting.

“It’s almost the reverse of that away from home. It’s how the opponent starts the game and we have to be able to overcome whatever that is.

“There are a couple of bits and pieces we’ve focused on this week about that start to the game.

“It’s nothing sure-fire or perfect. Even if we do concede, we still have to maintain what we want to do.

“I think there are certain aspects we’ve addressed with the players and worked on in the last couple of days. We have to be better in the first 20-25 minutes of games away from home.”

Jack Shepherd is set to return after missing the Fleetwood game (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Jack Shepherd is set to return after serving his one-game ban. Clarke Oduor could also start while City are assessing Corry Evans.

Alexander is confident of getting a proper reaction from the Fleetwood disappointment.

“If we can make improvements in what we need to do at the start of games, we give ourselves a better chance of winning.

“Our record at home is good, our record after a certain time away from home is good. It’s just this specific period when we let ourselves down.

“It is good that it’s right in front of us but there are no guarantees that we fix that problem this weekend. But we need to try.”