SIMON Grayson is backing his “big-game hunters” to breathe new life into City’s play-off pursuit.

The Bantams face in-form Plymouth at Home Park tomorrow in their first action for 11 days.

It is the first of a series of clashes with sides around them in the top half of League One – a period labelled “make or break” by their new boss.

City - who suffered a blow yesterday when Ryan McGowan underwent knee surgery - are out of the top six for the first time since the end of August and Grayson admits they will start as underdogs away to a rampant Argyle who have won five in a row.

But he feels they can rise to the occasion to start reviving a promotion bid that has faltered since the turn of the year.

Grayson said: “Look at our remaining 13 fixtures and eight or nine of them are against teams in the top ten. That can either make or break your season.

“You can win games against teams around you and pull away from them. Obviously, if it happens the other way it can have an adverse effect.

“But our group of players will probably get the spark back from playing against the bigger teams in the better games because they’ve been used to them over the last few years.

“From now until the end of the season, we’ll be playing teams in the top six. We’re not in there at the moment, so we’ll probably be underdogs.”

With no game last weekend, Grayson allowed the squad a few days to clear heads for the run-in. He has already noticed the benefit from the mini-break on the training ground.

“It’s a long season for every footballer up and down the country,” he added. “When you get an opportunity to have a breather, it does freshen the minds up.

“Players in the Championship are fortunate to get international breaks. But you don’t get that at this level and you’ve got Checkatrade Trophy matches to play as well.

“You’re playing a hell of a lot more football than other teams.

“So they need the chance to recharge the batteries, especially at the back end of the season and with the extra four weeks from getting to the play-off final.

“Look at the top echelons and they are on about playing too much football. But at that level it’s more about the mental side being more demanding for the elite teams.

“Here it is the brutality of the physical and mental sides of the game. But that’s part and parcel of what the players are doing and I think they’ll have benefited from a bit of a breather.”

City faced Plymouth twice in the space of three weeks at Valley Parade. But it is five years since their last visit to Home Park – a dour goalless draw under Phil Parkinson.

Grayson’s previous trip down there was a win with Blackpool in 2008 but he knows how tough it will be against a Derek Adams side with ambitions of making it back-to-back promotions.

He said: "Derek has done a fantastic job. He did really well last year and after starting the season poorly, Plymouth are showing what they are capable of again.

“We know their strengths and weaknesses but I’m more bothered about how we do.

“The players are an honest bunch of lads who are desperate to do well and turn round the run of results they’ve had recently.

“There have been the small steps taken with the Bury and Charlton draws and performances. Now it’s about getting back to the winning mentality they’ve had for the large part of the last 18 months.

“It’s about getting them refreshed and ready to go for the final hurdle of the season.

“It would be foolish to come in and try and get players doing things they aren’t used to or can’t even do. Other ideas can wait for further down the line.

“The short term is to get them believing in themselves again, tweaking a few tactical things and getting them going.”

Midfielder Jake Reeves continues to make progress after his groin injury but there is no timescale yet on his possible return.