SIMON Grayson felt he got the response he wanted from City as they held high-flying Shrewsbury.

The Bantams bounced back from their 5-0 mauling by Blackpool to draw goalless with the third-placed Shrews in an entertaining clash at Valley Parade last night.

City had the best chances to win it and Grayson, who made five changes to the side, was happy to get a reaction.

He said: “There’s been a lot of criticism from Saturday and rightly so.

“Ultimately, the players have talked about it and they’ve then got to show what they are capable of doing. I think they did that.

“All they’ve done is the basic requirements that a manager wants and a player should do every time they go out on that pitch. Work hard, be hard to beat and win individual battles.”

Kai Bruenker made his full debut alongside Charlie Wyke, who had passed a pre-match fitness test along with Matt Kilgallon to play. City’s top scorer should have scored with a second-half header.

Alex Gilliead, Stephen Warnock and Tyrell Robinson were all denied by good saves from Shrewsbury keeper Dean Henderson.

Grayson added: “All supporters want is to see players give whole-hearted performances.

“They can live with it if a player misses a chance or puts in a bad cross if they are chasing, working and putting their bodies on the line.

“When you do things like that, you just hope you can take that opportunity to win the game. Unfortunately, we just didn’t manage to execute the chances we got.

“We went back to basics playing 4-4-2 with units all over the pitch.

“The front two were a constant threat. Bruenker and Charlie looked like they were enjoying themselves and that gave the other players a lift as well.

“We started the game really well and the keeper made a couple of great saves for them. If we got a goal in that period, we might have gone on to win the game.

“But we were very compact and well drilled and gave a good account of ourselves against a strong team. We were the better team without a doubt.”