Bantams skipper Vincelot: Don’t let great run be sent to Coventry

“We must remember that everything is so fragile,” said the Frenchman. “The longer this run goes, the closer it is to its end.

“As soon as we get a little distracted before a game, a little too confident, then it will be over. We must always focus.

“People talk a lot about it but it’s cool.It shows that we are very solid and to have come back from behind a few times shows there is a great spirit.

“But we’ve got to really focus on why we have done well and take all the little details on board.”

Any caution in Vincelot’s comments is understandable. The City skipper has been here before with Coventry.

The Sky Blues were flying just as high this time last year. When Julian Rhodes invited two would-be German investors Edin Rahic and Stefan Rupp for pizza and then a seat in his box to watch Coventry at Valley Parade, they were witnessing League One’s leaders.

That goalless draw in late November was seen as a decent point against serious promotion challengers. Yet it would be City, not Coventry, who would go on to feature in the play-offs.

From topping the pile after 20 games, the Sky Blues fell away to finish 11 points behind the Bantams in eighth.

It was a dramatic slump that has spilled into this season. Coventry are currently bottom and looking for a manager after Tony Mowbray’s recent departure.

Vincelot recalled when it all started to go wrong – and the warning signals that nobody picked up.

He said: “We were flying, playing well, scoring a lot of goals. But thinking back now, there were a few little things that maybe slipped a little bit.

“You couldn’t see it at the time but we started having a lot of draws. There were tiny details that weren’t as good as they should have been.

“We were also very young at the same time. There were a lot of players who had not been in that position before.

“That’s why I look at this group and it is stronger because there is more experience.

“Everybody is saying ‘yes, we can win promotion’ and we are in a good position, for sure. But you have to be so focused for another 34 games.

“It’s such a long way but at least we’ve set the standard and know what we are capable of.”

For Vincelot, that wisdom which comes with experience has been evident even when the team are warming up before games. If something does not feel right about it, players are not afraid to say so.

He said: “Sometimes you might just feel it’s not quite there and you have to wake up. So you have a word with each other straight away.

“When you are younger, maybe you only realise a few days later that it wasn’t how it should be. You don’t think about it in the moment. You need to have that experience to say something if the warm-up does not feel good enough or sharp enough. You react then and you are ready for the game. As I say, every detail is so important.

“We are very consistent in the way we play. The quality is there nearly every game.

“Of course, there are going to be days when we won’t be at our best but the spirit is still there. Fleetwood was not the best performance but we got three points and we’ll take that.

“We are confident we can turn over a few difficult situations. We have the quality to do that.”

Three wins on the bounce have closed the gap on leaders Scunthorpe to just one point and the Bantams will be fancied to prolong that run over the next two games against newly-promoted Oxford, who lost at home to Wimbledon on Sunday, and struggling Southend.

But Vincelot is all too aware of the potential pitfalls if you are fooled by any bold predictions.

He said: “It’s always hard to just look at the table and say ‘this game is three points, that’s three points, that one will be a draw’. That is not how it works.

“On the day, every team are very close to each other, especially in League One. You look at the results and see that every week.

“It’s very difficult to predict what will happen, so that’s why we have to refocus on ourselves and not on who we are playing on a Saturday. It’s just about us.”