Bradford City boss says he takes pride in his main takeaway from Swindon

City fans feared that if star striker Andy Cook picked up a terrible knee injury on New Year's Day, the season would fall apart.

Calum Kavanagh has been a great stand up ever since, but his best performance was largely saved by the valley parade.

But he produced three early clinical finishes on the county ground yesterday, notching his first senior hat trick.

The defeat was furious, so City still sits in second place with solid auto promotions.

This kind of format could make all the difference between the top three and the playoffs, but Bantamus boss Graham Alexander wanted to highlight it as a lot of positive ones since the game turned evenly keeled with 11 men.

Speaking to T&A after his defeat to Swindon, he said:

“We then looked at the other side of our game, but we also need to take part in the fact that we were able to avoid some of the acknowledged goals.

“The biggest thing for me is the character and personality. I saw the team bag today.”

Graham Alexander saw his players keep their heads in adversity on Saturday, and he encouraged city fans to do the same after the final whi. (Image: Tom Pearson)

Alexander admitted, making it even more difficult to swallow defeat.

“We didn't win the game when we should have been, because our records are incredible in the match we got 2-0.

“Even when Swindon pulled it back to 3-3, players showed spirit and commitment and didn't give in when other teams did.

“We went up the other end and scored again, you saw the effort and team ethics from these players.

“Unfortunately, I couldn't see it until the end.”

Of the ten men on the Citi field, they gave it all after Smallwood's early firing. At the very least, this often portends the challenges players may face in the important Final 4 games.

Alexander said: “I've always been proud of these players.

“I find it great to work with them every day, with the attitude and commitment they show.

“I didn't see a team that felt sorry for myself.”

And that's the key now. Because the city is facing a critical fixture at its promotion rival in Notts County home on Thursday night to kick off Easter weekend, it can't afford to stick to this heart-pounding defeat.

Alexander said full-time:

“It happened, and that's all, so I look forward to Thursday.

“We look forward to the next challenge, but we'll cover what we need analytically from this game.

“The biggest thing right now is going to the Notts County game with confidence that we've entered this.

“If we can play the same way as the first 15 minutes here, we will be fair.