David Hopkin was full of praise for both his side’s and the City supporters’ performance following a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Peterborough United.
The City head coach saw Anthony O’Connor put the Bantams in front on 12 minutes.
However, a controversial Ivan Toney strike - which looked offside - allowed the high-flying hosts to level matters in the second half.
Close to 750 City supporters made the 250-mile round trip and the Bantams boss hailed their efforts following the full-time whistle.
“The fans were magnificent and I think they saw today how much it meant to the players, to myself and to everybody at the club,” said Hopkin.
“It is important for the team to connect and bond with the fans. They are starting to realise what they have to do to win the support we need.
“After 10 minutes we had to make sure we were still in the game. We could not afford to concede early on because we have done that in too many games.
“When our goal went in, the fans gave us great backing and it continued throughout the course of the game.
“Now it is about connecting the team and the fans together and, hopefully, together, we can push away from where we are in the league.
“We will take massive confidence from this performance. We saw a different side to the team today and we saw a change in mentality.
“We have the quality and ability. It is about showing the desire and the fight to get us moving up the table.”
The point means Hopkin’s side ended a disappointing six-match losing run.
But Hopkin insists the Bantams were “good value” for all three points.
He added: “I thought we were fantastic, overall. We scored early on and could have had a goal before that - when Paul Caddis had a great shot on his left foot.
“We had to manage the game at half-time. I don’t think Peterborough had a shot on target in the first half. But there were a lot of crosses and possession we had to deal with.
“The goal we conceded was poor and I thought it was poor from the officials.
“We knew it was going to be tough against a side vying for promotion. Technically and physically our players are in good shape, so mentally we had to make sure we were switched on.
“Peterborough have got a lot of talented players, with a lot of attacking flair in the team. We had to make sure we nullified it - and we did. They only had one shot on target in the second half and they scored from it. It was pretty dubious.
“These things go against you but I cannot fault the character displayed today. I have to give great credit to the players. We showed a lot of fight and desire.”
City return to action on Tuesday evening, welcoming Aldershot Town to the Northern Commercials Stadium - in Emirates FA Cup replay action.
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