ANDREW Davies was a reassuring presence back in the heart of City’s defence at the weekend.

As the stats indicate, the Bantams rarely lose when their blond warrior is among the ranks.

But whereas last season the wheels came off completely when Davies was sidelined for three months, Phil Parkinson’s side have ridden his latest injury blow fairly well.

The form of Christopher Routis has been a major plus; equally James Meredith filled in solidly during Alan Sheehan’s self-inflicted absence at left back. As Parkinson said after the Crewe game, it was a tough call to leave them out again.

At the other end, James Hanson should be fine to tackle Barnsley on Sunday. But during his absence, City have managed to claim eight points from four unbeaten league games.

While Parkinson’s squad is far from the biggest, the evidence is encouraging that they can still cope without the big hitters.

The City boss said: “We’ve got to adapt when certain players aren’t in the team and we’ve done that. Look at the MK Dons game when we lost Hans in the warm-up.

“There are a lot of experienced players in the squad and the reaction that night was terrific. That’s what we need.

“Having Davo back is a big boost because he is another one of our leaders. Having that leadership quality in the dressing room and on the pitch is very important.

“Obviously you want key players out on the pitch and he is one of those. But we don’t want to be in the situation where a player is missing and the team really suffers without them.

“We have proved that we’ve got that capability to still get results when we are missing certain players.”

City lined up one short-term replacement for Hanson but when that was knocked back by the parent club, Parkinson was happy to stick with what he has got.

“The loan market is a great thing to have as a back-up,” he added. “But as we’ve said before, we want to use our own players as much as we can.

“It’s part and parcel of football throughout the season that players will get injured and others have to step in. It’s important you can give them that opportunity.”

Even given the “must win” scenario surrounding the Crewe game, Parkinson did not feel the risk to throw his target man back in before he was ready.

He said: “We had enough confidence in the team to do the job rather than put James at risk.

“He’s a big character in the dressing room but he hadn’t really trained, other than doing a few bits and pieces.

“It’s three weeks since he did the (thigh) injury so he was ahead of schedule anyway. I didn’t see the need to push him out for a fitness test on Saturday and then risk losing him for a longer period.”

Parkinson has also revealed that Davies has been appointed club captain to support skipper Stephen Darby.

“They liaise with Steve Parkin and me about any issues that crop up within the club. It’s good to have a couple of senior players to bounce things off.

“In the same way, last year we had Gary Jones and Ricky Ravenhill and Darbs really stepped up after Ricky left.

“We’ve done that before and it’s something that works well.”