MARK Robins is confident the manager of the month “curse” will not hit Scunthorpe.

Robins pipped Phil Parkinson for the most recent League One accolade after the Iron won five of their six matches in October.

But their strong recovery from a poor start to the season suffered a blow last week when a patched-up side were beaten 2-1 by second-from-bottom Swindon. It was only their second loss in eight.

Robins, who should be able to call on reinforcements for City’s visit tomorrow, believes Scunthorpe can bounce back and finish this month as strongly as they began.

He said: “We need to go back out there and hit the heights we have been hitting in terms of effort and work rate.

“The only game we are looking at is Bradford but then there is the away one on Tuesday (at Bury) and Peterborough at the back of it.

“We have got three tough games and it will be a good way to finish off the month and get more of the players back fit.

“There have been a few blips but it has been a reasonable month and we need to get back performing at a level close to our best.

“We have been doing that pretty much for a few weeks now but we can’t take our foot off the gas and let it go.”

Keeper Luke Daniels is expected to return from a thigh injury which kept him out of the County Ground defeat and previous ever-presents Neal Bishop and Scott Laird are back from illness and suspension.

Robins, who had to make five changes at Swindon, said: “We’ve been decimated, so we’ve got to make sure we regroup and get back to winning ways as quickly as we can. You miss players and you have to try and shuffle the pack.

“I am looking forward to getting players back on the pitch (tomorrow) so we can hit the ground running.

“We need everybody back and challenging for a place because there are a few important games for us now.”

Scunthorpe currently sit in 12th spot, four points behind the Bantams, and have won four in a row on home soil.