Garry Thompson has thrown down the gauntlet for City to stay unbeaten for the rest of the season.

It’s a mighty tall order to negotiate the final 13 games without a slip-up – a run-in that starts at second-placed Port Vale tonight.

But Thompson feels the Bantams are capable of thinking big and keeping their promotion campaign alive.

He said: “Take the cup out of it, this season was about promotion, whether that was going up automatically or through the play-offs. That’s not changed.

“We’ve got another 13 cup finals, if you like, and there’s no reason why we can’t mount a challenge. We’ve got a couple of games in hand and have got to play a lot of the teams who are above or around us.

“There’s no reason why we can’t go 13 games unbeaten and put ourselves in a good, firm position for going up.

“We know if we play well on the day that we’re a match for anybody in this league. “We’re under no illusions how tough it is going to be tonight. Port Vale have got good players and score a lot of goals.

“But I’m pretty sure if we show the same endeavour and work rate from York then we’re going to create chances and it’s up to us to stick them away.

“There’s no reason why we can’t go there and come away with three points.”

Thompson will be hoping for a recall after coming off the bench at Bootham Crescent to seal victory with a thumping finish.

Whether that is enough to earn a start will hinge on Phil Parkinson, who has made it clear he will continue to make regular changes.

“We’ve got a really good squad and you know you’re not going to play every week,” said Thompson.

“I started against Dagenham and then the gaffer said he was going to bring fresh legs in. We’ve had a lot of games this season so he’s going to rotate the squad.

“He wants to make sure he can put out the freshest team possible. To make six changes last week and another five on Saturday shows the strength of the squad.

“You’ve got to make sure that when you do play you’re on top form, or else you won’t get selected.”

The goal certainly strengthened Thompson’s case – and helped him bury the demons of a costly miss from a similar position at Wimbledon a fortnight ago.

He scored that day but then squandered a great chance to double the lead before the Dons climbed off the floor to stun City with a late one-two.

Thompson said: “(That chance) was going through my mind so instead of trying to hit the ball on the way up, I waited until it was coming down. Fortunately for me it went in this time.

“It knocked the wind out of their sails a little bit and put the game to rest.

“That made the draw at home to Dagenham look a good point. To come back from 1-0 down in the last five minutes and then follow it up with a win was very important and we can go into tonight full of confidence.”