LIFE in the League One rat race is no beach for Rory McArdle.

But the ever-consistent City centre half would not have it any other way.

It seems that most of the division are still involved in a frantic scramble to claim a play-off place – and the Bantams are still very much in the mix despite dropping into the bottom half.

Tomorrow’s visitors Oldham leapfrogged them into 12th with their second win on the bounce on Tuesday, although they have played a couple more.

But City still have it all to play for in their remaining ten games – in contrast to neighbours Leeds and Huddersfield.

Their West Yorkshire rivals are embedded in no man’s land in the Championship, which has effectively split into three divisions.

McArdle said: “Without being disrespectful, there are some teams in the Championship already who won’t be going up or down.

“They’ll have fixtures involving teams who have already got the beach towels out and are just playing out the season. That’s not the case with our league.

“With us, you’re playing against people who are either battling to get promoted from the division or they are fighting for their lives to avoid dropping out of it.

“Every game means something. With so many involved, it’s inevitable that teams are going to be playing those in and around them.

“If you win a couple, you’ll be right up there in the play-offs. If you don’t you could find yourself down in 12th, 13th or 14th.

“That’s why it’s important you keep things on a level. Maybe when it’s down to three or four games to go, you’ll see where people are going to finish but even then it could go right to the end.”

McArdle is one of the veterans of the successful play-off campaign two years ago. The rest of the back four plus James Hanson have also been there and done it in 2013.

After losing 4-1 at Exeter, City were ten points away in League Two but roared through the pack to time their run to perfection.

“Everyone wrote us off after the Exeter game,” he added. “But we kept believing and came back – so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.

“There might have been a big change of personnel but there are still some of us here with that experience.

“We were worse off (than the current position) but managed to do it and the momentum we built into the play-offs showed, especially in the final when the game was over after half an hour. We were on the up.

“A carbon copy of that would be all right.

“It wasn’t as tight then as now but if we can go on the same kind of run, we know that we will also be taking points off the teams in there with us. It’s still in our hands.”

An added spice to the fixture list is the number of Yorkshire derbies and local dust-ups to come – the Latics are geographically the closest opponents to Valley Parade.

McArdle said: “That just adds a bit more edge when you’re playing derbies and clubs nearby. We’ve also got to play Bristol City and Preston, who are both on fantastic runs and looking to get promotion done as quickly as possible.

“This season will always be remembered for the FA Cup run. We were disappointed to be out but people will talk about the result we got at Chelsea for years.

“But we want to keep going and there’s no reason why we can’t have a strong finish.”