Bantams face Barrow looking for first win in five in league

The Bantams take on Barrow at Valley Parade tonight aiming for a first league win for five games.

Saturday’s FA Cup exit to Morecambe has raised tensions off the pitch but Alexander maintains that the team remain focused on coming through the current wobble in results.

“I understand it but I’m not going to get like that,” he said. “I’m not into panicking, I’m not into drama.

“I’ll keep the players understanding about the challenge ahead and they need to be ready for it.

“I’ve seen the team competing at a really good level.

“I can see that we’ve been in every single game that we haven’t won.

• Bantams throw down the challenge to veteran Huntington

“We were nowhere near away at Grimsby at the start of the season. I didn’t give the team any grace.

“If we want to be successful, we must be better than that.

“But I can’t say that about these games. I can say it about individual moments where we could have done better but as a group and a team we’ve been as competitive as we can be with the challenges we have faced.

“I don’t want to see anyone sulking. We take the hits and let’s move forward.”

Neill Byrne is suspended after Saturday’s red card – a decision Alexander still feels was harsh.

Paul Huntington is set to play again with Alexander choosing between Brad Halliday, Cheick Diabate or the returning Aden Baldwin on the right of the back three.

He added: “I’m not going to look back at that red card and feel sorry for ourselves. It’s how we go forward.

“Can we learn anything from it? I think it’s extremely difficult to learn from an innocuous challenge which has been made a meal of from everybody.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong end of it. We’re all frustrated because we wanted to be in the next round of the cup and I felt we were the team who looked most likely to do that.

“It’s been taken away from us but I think the fans saw, up to that red card, that we were the better team.

“But we’re in a results business. We have to make sure we start getting those results and turning those fine margins in our favour.

“What we’re all here to do is win and we want to be successful in the league. We’ve got this opportunity to start the ball rolling.”

Jack Shepherd scored a wonder goal in City's last league win (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Alex Pattison is in the mix to start after coming on as a sub on Saturday for his first game in two months.

Alexander believes the stronger bench with the likes of Pattison and Baldwin – and Antoni Sarcevic and Ciaran Kelly getting closer - will be crucial in the busy run that City now face.

“We can’t have 11 or 12 and then unfortunately putting scholars on the bench and stuff like that.

“It’s got to be players we know can help us win games consistently week in, week out in the course of a season.

“I’m delighted to see them eventually training with us and then having gametime.

“If we can keep them all fit, then I know where we can take this team.”