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Club News

PARKINSON DEMANDS MORE RESILIENCY

22 March 2015

Club News

PARKINSON DEMANDS MORE RESILIENCY

22 March 2015

Bantams boss Phil Parkinson has demanded his side learn from their mistakes after seeing City lose a two-goal lead in the closing stages to draw with Fleetwood Town at the Coral Windows Stadium this Saturday.

Parkinson's men appeared to be cruising to victory thanks to goals from Jon Stead and Christopher Routis but late efforts from the visitors by Jamie Proctor and Nathan Pond left City stunned and Fleetwood with a share of the spoils.

The drawn results means the Bantams are currently five points off the Play-Off spots with two games in hand on sixth-placed Peterborough United.

With Bradford at home again next weekend to Oldham Athletic, Parkinson says City simply must add more steel to their game when it comes to closing out winning positions.

Parkinson said: "We should be taking about some terrific individual performances and three points but unfortunately we're not. 

"We didn't see the game through - we need more resiliency and we need for more steely determination around the team.

"We got those aspects for the majority of the game - it was a good performance from the lads - but we didn't keep it up until the final whistle.

"To only come away with a point from a game like that when you are two goals up at home going into the closing stages is a big blow for us.

"At two-nil, we were comfortable and there was a feeling that the job was done.

"As we know in football, however, it is not over until the referee blows his whistle. Football can be a cruel game sometimes because that was a match there for the taking.

"For the vast majority of the game, we have played it in the right way. We have played with controlled aggression and got the balls into the right areas and into players like Mark Yeates and Billy Clarke.

"The simple fact of the matter is though, we should have seen the game through."

Following the Fleetwood game, City now have exactly ten league games left until the end of the regular season.

Parkinson knows his squad must use every single one of them to ensure this campaign finishes in a positive fashion.

The Bantams chief added: "We have ten games to go in this league season and we have to finish this season on a high.

"The reputations of a lot of our players have been built on good performances so far this season but that can quickly change. 

"I've seen players at some clubs put their best performances in during the last ten games of the season and end up the hero and Player of the Year.

"Equally though, I've seen players do well until this stage of the season and then do very little after and their contributions earlier in the campaign are almost forgotten. We have to make sure that doesn't happen here as individuals or as a team.

"All I want from now until the end of the season is committed performances from the first minute to the last.

"We clearly have the quality in our squad - we've shown that throughout the season - but we need that steely determination to back that quality up.

"I will not let up until I get that."


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