No need to panic about Bradford City's dip in form (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

No need to panic about Bradford City's dip in form

6:40am Tuesday 16th October 2012 in Sport By John Hendrie

John Hendrie column: The last four games have been a reality check for City but I don’t see anything to worry about.

In the grand scale of things, the only result in that run that has knocked you a bit was the Dagenham one.

It started with the Port Vale defeat at home but I thought City were excellent that day, especially in the first half. Arguably they should have been four or five up by half-time.

Rochdale’s always a tricky place to go and you’d have settled for a point beforehand. I know they had the red card but sometimes it is harder to play against ten men than 11 because they get everyone right behind the ball.

A point should have set up the trip to Dagenham nicely and losing down there will be the one that will have really frustrated Phil Parkinson.

Conceding four goals was a real shock to the system but even then City could have come back with something after having a real go in the second half.

Okay, a draw at home to York on Saturday wasn’t a brilliant result either but derby games are always tough. And having just come back up from non-league, this would have been their cup final.

Is it a blip? Well, only if you turn it into one. As I always say in football, it’s not what you’ve achieved up to now but what comes next and how you react.

If the boys go into the Cheltenham game this weekend in a positive frame of mind, then they will be fine. There’s no point crying over spilt milk.

I’m sure Phil will have them right up for it on Saturday and three points at home puts City right back in the mix.

At this moment, they are in every competition – the league, the Capital One Cup and the JPT.

Maybe the last few games have put things into perspective a little bit and stopped people getting carried away. But I think most of us would have settled for being a point off the play-offs in mid-October and still in two cups.

Phil and Steve Parkin will make sure that the players don’t dwell on the recent dropped points and focus on the games ahead. This is a big month with the likes of Wigan away coming up and it’s important that everyone stays positive.

I’ve said all along that I’m very optimistic in the squad that Phil has got. It’s just a shame that Kyel Reid’s out because he’s such an important player. It’s down to the others to step up and as one door closes, another opens. But he will be sorely missed.

I’m a big Reid fan because he’s very positive and very direct and he’ll get his crosses into the box. But City have got a squad there and have to show they can deal with it.

John Hendrie, who is a consultant for LawBlacks.com, was talking to Simon Parker