ANDREW Davies aims to repay City’s faith in sticking with him through the dark times by taking them back to Wembley tomorrow.

The Bantams have not lost a cup tie when Davies has started for over three years – and the powerhouse defender has no intention of relinquishing that record against Reading at a packed-out Valley Parade.

The FA Cup quarter-final offers City a chance to reach Wembley for the third time in two years and gives Davies a further opportunity to make up for the huge disappointment of missing most of their Capital One Cup glory nights.

Davies came on as a half-time sub in the final but was an injured spectator for the famous wins against Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa.

“That hurt me a lot,” he admitted: “I remember coming to Aston Villa away with my brother and I was over the moon for the boys.

“But walking down the streets with the fans wasn’t something I particularly wanted to be doing.

“I felt like I deserved to be there with the boys, I’d put everything into it and when the big games came I wasn’t available. That really beat me up.

“These ones have definitely made up for those. It shows all the hard work when I’ve been out injured has paid off.”

Davies is the second-longest serving player after James Hanson and cannot believe how much the club have changed since he first arrived from Stoke in September 2011.

“We were third or fourth bottom of League Two and there were a lot of question marks about what I was doing coming here.

“But the second I walked in I saw there was potential and that’s been a big reason for staying. I feel like the club are moving forward.

“I’ve put a lot of hard work and effort in being here for four years. When Hans hasn’t started a game, I’ve been the only player still in the team from when I first came.

“I take a lot of pride from that and feel I’ve made a lot of sacrifices – staying in Bradford overnight twice a week while my family’s at home and things like that.

“But I really believe that’s going to keep me at the club. I want to stay here.

“I feel we’ve been through the dark times and we deserve some light now.

“I genuinely do feel I’m getting fitter and stronger and I want to give that back to Bradford City for putting faith in me.”

City have never been beaten in the cup at home in Phil Parkinson’s reign – and eight of those ten ties have been against higher-division opponents.

Davies believes too many “big names” cannot cope with the uncomfortable surroundings.

He said: “Players on big money come here, maybe look at the stadium and the pitch and it mentally breaks them.

“They think ‘I don’t really want to be here’ and straight away you’ve got an advantage on them.

“We know what it’s going to be like, we play to the conditions and probably run that little bit harder. Effort will outdo talent, I’ve always said that.

“We know we can beat bigger teams and it breeds confidence with the boys. You can’t get a bigger boost than winning 4-2 at Chelsea – and that was not a fluke.

“We generally feel that if we start the game right and do what the manager says we can beat anyone.

“In football you’ve got to be mentally strong. You go to some horrible grounds.

“I’m not disrespecting clubs but when I first came down from the Premier League to League Two, everyone said ‘you’re going to breeze this’. But I knew it wasn’t that easy.

“Sol Campbell had one game at Morecambe and he was gone. I knew I’d have to be mentally strong.

“The people with that mental toughness are the ones best equipped to get over that bridge.”

City will wait as long as possible before making a decision on winger Filipe Morais. The Portuguese has missed the last three games with a knee strain.