SIMON Grayson is demanding City do not let their season peter out into nothingness.

The Bantams head into the final ten games with only two points from a possible 30 – and could drop into the bottom half with another defeat at home to Gillingham.

It has been a spectacular fall from grace having entered the new year locked in a play-off place.

But Grayson has stressed his side cannot allow the remainder of the campaign to continue drifting.

He said: “I’ve said all along that players are playing for their futures.

“There are contracts up and there are ones even under contract that will probably move down the pecking order if I see what’s out there and we stay and do the recruitment that I want to do.

“Players every game are playing for the shirt whether I’m here or not – but ultimately they are playing for the football club and the supporters.”

City suffered their third loss on the bounce at Doncaster on Monday and have not scored a goal in that time.

Grayson insists he will keep trying to lift his players but they have to believe in themselves to get out of the rut.

“We’re doing it every day but also it’s got to come from within,” he added.

“One of the last things I said to the players (at Doncaster) was to go out and be the one that people are talking about in the morning because you’d had a good game or been awarded man of the match.

“We said it again at half-time. But in the second half there wasn’t enough desire and determination to represent what the fans required and wanted.”

Grayson raised eyebrows when he threw on youthful substitutes Joel Grodowski, Danny Devine and Jordan Gibson. But with resources stretched, he admitted that was what he had available.

He said: “The strength in depth isn’t of a level that some of the bigger teams in this division have got.

“But it’s an opportunity for them. They came on because they’ve been doing well.

“But they probably epitomised where we are as a group, that we’ve not got the quality that’s required to go and push on at the top of the division.”

Grayson clinched the first of his four promotions 11 years ago when Blackpool stormed through to win the last ten games on the trot.

He heads into a potentially uncomfortable afternoon at Valley Parade this weekend still looking for a first victory at the City helm as play-off hopes diminish.

Grayson added: “It’s massive. We’ve got ten games to go and mathematically it’s still possible that we can get in there, so we’ll keep going.

“One game could turn a season round. But we’ve been saying that since day one of walking in.

“We’ve got to make sure we do the basics right, attack and defend as a team, make it hard for the opposition but be ruthless as well when we get to that top half of the pitch.

“We encourage supporters to get behind the team, which they will do at the weekend, and let’s get a victory and see where it goes after that.

“That first goal is vital at this moment in time. If we can get it, it will give the players a lift.

“We’ll keep encouraging the players that we’ve got lots to play for in terms of results and futures for everybody.”