Graham Alexander praises Bradford City's team mentality

Alexander's resources will be attacked with five cups in the window strip in January for the Vertu Trophy semi-finals in Birmingham.

He made four changes in Newport on Saturday. There, Bantam won a goalless draw despite playing most of the game with 10 men after a Jack Shepherds red card.

The group's mentality has earned passionate acclaim from the city bosses during their large amounts of equipment.

Alexander said:

“The sense of unity with the people who just joined the group is amazing, they slotted in their positions very well and did exactly what we wanted tactically.

“We couldn't say they were making their debut, but they have some great experts around them.

“That's how the right team works for me. That's what we have – the right team.”

Calum Kavanagh and Tyreik Wright were off, while Alex Pattison was left on the bench. However, Alexander emphasized that the re-shuffle would not reach the magnitude of tomorrow's collision at St. Andrews.

“It had nothing to do with the context of the game, but five players are not available to us, and we fall to the minimum of what we need for the team and the bench.

“Who missed the chunk of the season due to injuries? I want to send out boys every three days to compete at the highest level, but I need to try and use the team as much as I can.

“I really trust them all and Saturday proved that. We're putting players in.

“They are in a group of players trying to help people step into it.

“I think (other) players may have gone again, but could they do that again against Birmingham and then the following Saturday?

“That's difficult. Like I said, I manage situations that I've never done this before.

“But we really feel that there is a team that can do that and can continue to present performances.”

Jack Shepherd can play tomorrow despite his Newport Red Card (Image: Thomas Gadd)

The seventh clean sheet of the last eight games means City has only been granted one goal against Wimbledon in 13.5 hours of football. They extended their rides in Wales, even after the shepherd's 17-minute layoff.

“It's a huge credit for the players given what we had to face,” added Alexander. “It wasn't a coincidence after being under the chance and the cosh.

“I was as relaxed as you could. Just like our quality, our structure was really good when we got down to ten men.

“We didn't just raise the pitch and ho the ball, we were trying to find passes and break through them, but we did that a few times.

“It's a difficult challenge for players, but like I told them at halftime, when you have to prove yourself, I love that type of game.

“I like to have 11 men and win in the future. But I'm sure you're going to play these games during the season when things go against you, and this is what you're going to do. It's a place to see what you're doing.

“Players are just pulling out their performance after performance day.”