BILLY Clarke has reminded City they must continue to set a fast pace in the dash to secure a play-off return.

The Bantams moved level on points with third-placed Fleetwood after Saturday’s third straight Valley Parade victory.

But Clarke, whose match-winner against Walsall was his first goal for nearly five months, insists there can be no let-up because of the chasing pack hot on their heels.

Southend and Millwall both play games in hand tomorrow night. The Shrimpers would overtake City with a fifth win on the bounce and seventh-placed Millwall can move within three points.

But Clarke insists City’s destiny will remain in their own hands with a strong finish to the League One campaign.

He said: “The teams behind keep winning so we’ve got five huge games to come.

“Win them and we certainly won’t be any lower than we are now.

“Momentum is key at this stage. Look at Barnsley last year.

“When I was at Blackpool we won nine of the last 11 (to win promotion to the Premier League in 2010) and never looked like we were going to get beaten.

“It was the same with us and the way we finished at the end of last season. I just feel that home semi-final was massively out of character and that was difficult to take.”

City had to work hard against a dogged Walsall to clinch their fourth win in six and stretch the unbeaten home run to 28 league games.

Clarke finally broke the resistance when he lashed home from close range when the ball broke to him following a mazy run from Mark Marshall.

He added: “Marshy’s very unpredictable for the defence, he can go anywhere. He’s been brilliant.

“He went on a little run, I arrived slightly late and the ball just landed there.

“It’s difficult to pick up runs when you come in a bit later. Then it’s just luck if the ball lands to you but thankfully it did.

“It’s been a long time coming and there was a bit of relief to score. But I’ve been in the team with different roles.

“Obviously I want to score as many as I can but defensively I’ve had a key role to do as well to help Romain (Vincelot) and Josh (Cullen).”

Stuart McCall felt City were “insipid” in the first half when Alex Jones had their best chance with a header cleared off the line.

But they stepped it up after the break and Clarke settled home nerves with his 58th-minute winner.

“It was a tough game,” admitted the Irishman. “There was a lot of battling for second balls and it certainly wasn’t pretty at times.

“We were just off it a bit in the first half and needed to increase the tempo in everything.

“We were quicker to things and a bit more intelligent with our passes (in the second period).

“We’ve played better and not won quite a few times but I still think we deserved it.

“We weren’t really under any pressure after the goal but it’s just about winning at this stage of the season.

“We’ll keep going at Bury next week and if we play like we did at Scunthorpe then we’ll definitely give ourselves a great chance again.”