BRADFORD CITY AFC

Bantams boss Phil Parkinson admits the previous two games for City have been frustrating ones for his side but they must now look forward with optimism.

With the return from injury of Andrew Davies, coupled with four recent new signings, Parkinson's side has enjoyed a fresh look to it over the last couples of matches - Preston North End at home and Wolverhampton Wanderers away.

Sadly for City and their supporters, however, both matches have seen the Bantams go down to ten men within the first half hour of the contest, robbing fans of the opportunity to get a proper look at the new-look Bradford.

Parkinson knows City must look forward and not back though, and the Bantams chief feel there is much to be positive about ahead of the club's next batch of league fixtures.

Parkinson said: "It is a frustration (about the red cards) but there isn't much we can do about it now.

"To go ten vs ten against Preston and then be down to ten at Wolves obviously made it hard work. It is frustrating we haven't been able to show our maximum in these past two games.

"The likes of (Adam) Reachy still managed to show some nice touches in the Wolves game though, and he looked dangerous breaking forward.

"Andy Gray came in after only a limited amount of football and also did well in difficult circumstances. He held the ball up nicely and gave us a good platform to work with even with ten men.

"I was pleased for Chris (Atkinson) to get some action on Saturday. It was a bit difficult for him because his game is normally all about making runs forward. He couldn't really do that at Wolves but there will be other opportunities for him.
"We know what we have to do."

“There are so many good things in the team at the moment we just haven’t helped ourselves by going down to ten men. It was a really tough ask of us but we move on and look to get a good week's worth of training under our belts.