Liam Ridehalgh is looking forward to the opportunity of “jeopardising” Northampton Town’s promotion hopes while strengthening the Bantams', ahead of tomorrow's clash.
The full-back recognised the importance of the encounter, and is relishing the prospect of taking three points to not only bolster City’s promotion charge, but to also dent the Cobblers'.
The 31-year-old has moved on from last Saturday’s late disappointment at the University of Bradford Stadium and urged his side to take the lessons learnt in the 2-2 draw with Gillingham into their final three games.
“Saturday is a big one, with Northampton being right up there in the table.” Ridehalgh said.
“If they win, they are promoted, so we will be certainly looking to take the points off them.
“They could secure promotion with a win, so we will aim to jeopardise that and win ourselves.
“I have been there earlier in my career. It is not a nice feeling, so obviously we all want to stop that from happening.
“We were very disappointed after the game to concede so late, but we have done a lot of work this week to hopefully rectify it and move on.
“The aim now, for all the boys, is to go down to Northampton and hopefully win the game.
“We have to be a little more smarter and perhaps be a little more adaptable in certain scenarios.
“For example, Harry (Lewis) was being impeded a lot in the second half under his crossbar against Gillingham, so we have identified that. We have to, perhaps, be a little more streetwise in seeing out games.”
The former Tranmere Rovers defender lauded the second-half reaction from City and insisted that the Bantams can still take and build on the positives from last week’s draw.
Ridehalgh called on his experience of promotion-chasing campaigns and encouraged City to utilise what they have done to get to this stage, as he eagerly anticipates Saturday’s challenge.
“One main positive from Saturday, was our reaction,” Ridehalgh added.
“We always back ourselves to perform. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, but that can happen in football.
“There are definitely positives to take, and we need to take them, as there is another huge game ahead of us.
“I would say the main thing is to keep that momentum. It sounds cliche, but you have to keep performing and doing the things that got you there in the first place.
“We have enough in the squad to really push on. The automatics are not out of the picture, so we will continue to strive for that.
“The requirement now is to play the best we can and not let ourselves down.
“Games like Saturday’s are why we play football. The rewards are massive - who would not want to play in these games?”
REMINDER: Tickets for tomorrow's game are SOLD OUT, with close to 1,000 travelling Bantams set to pack out the away end at Sixfields.