Peter Taylor today thanked his football pals for “giving him a cuddle” during City’s turbulent times.

The Bantams boss is facing up to another crucial afternoon tomorrow at runaway leaders Chesterfield.

With four losses on the bounce, the pressure is building again and Taylor admitted he is grateful for the support coming from inside the club and elsewhere.

“It’s up to me to keep the players on their toes and sometimes a manager is a bit lonely in that situation,” he said.

“That’s where at this particular time you get some really good phone calls from people.

“I won’t name them but there are certain managers and assistants that I know very well. They know the time to put in a call to keep your chin up.

“You do need that. But I’m a bit gutted to lose my drinking partner Paul Jewell now that he’s gone to Ipswich!

“I think the board have been very supportive and I’ve no complaints there. And there are people who I’m very close to in football who give me a gee-up.

“The staff have also been great. Wayne Jacobs, Junior Lewis and Tim Dittmer are very good because they know when you want a little bit of a cuddle.”

After Michael Flynn made his comeback from the bench on Tuesday, Simon Ramsden could feature in the squad against John Sheridan’s table-toppers.

With Jon Worthington yesterday signing a short-term deal for the rest of the season, Taylor can see a much-needed injection of steel and know-how for the scrap ahead.

“There will be less errors made from now because there’s more experience coming into the team,” he said.

“When you are dealing with more experience, there’s more chance the right decisions will be made.

“It’s a great boost for us and you can tell there’s a bit more geeing up in the changing room. We don’t need quiet youngsters who are too quiet to say things in this situation, we need some leaders out there.”

City need to arrest a worrying slide which has seen them slip to within five points of the bottom two. They face two of the six sides below them, Lincoln and Macclesfield, in the next eight days.

Taylor said: “We can’t kid anybody now. We’ve played too many matches for the position we’re in at the minute to be talking about promotion. We’ve got to make sure that the other thing doesn’t happen.

“I don’t for one minute think we’re now relegation material but we’ve got to start winning some matches and producing some form.

“We deserved to get beaten at Oxford because they were miles better than us. But I look at the other games – Barnet, Aldershot and Crewe the other night – and we could have won them all.

“But it’s no good just talking about it. When you lose confidence your determination level has got to get even higher – that’s the key.”

Chesterfield are unbeaten in seven games and enjoy an 11-point cushion over the last automatic spot. They have also scored in every game at the new b2net Stadium since the move from Saltergate last summer.

But Taylor points to last year’s unlikely win at Rochdale as proof that City can spring a surprise.

He said: “I remember when I first came to the club and we played Accrington. I was thinking ‘we’re nowhere near it’ and then we went and beat Rochdale, who were the best team in the division.

“We’re now playing the best team in the division again. John has done really well with a very good squad and it’s going to be a terrific test.

“They’ve got strikers scoring regularly. I’ve been at promotion teams and nine times out of ten you’ve got a scorer high up in the charts.

“They are very strong but they are still beatable. I know our supporters will be there in numbers and it’s a great opportunity to cause an upset.

“I know on the pools it will be down as a Chesterfield win but in my mind it won’t be.”