CITY’S hammering at Blackpool has brought them to their senses, according to Simon Grayson.

The slump over the second half of the season reached its lowest point with the 5-0 loss a fortnight ago.

But Grayson’s men have responded from the heavy flak they took over the Bloomfield Road fiasco with four points from two home games.

As they return to Lancashire this afternoon to face Rochdale, the Bantams boss admits the shock to the system of Blackpool has provoked a response.

He said: “Sometimes results like that can give everybody a major kick up the backside right the way through the football club, supporters, players, management staff etc.

“You don’t want too many of those games, that’s for sure. But I think it has been part of the success we’ve had in the last couple of games.

“Criticism hurts people and the ones who want to be true characters stand up and be counted. The players have done that so far, but they’ve got to keep doing it.

“Maybe we needed a kick up the backside like the Blackpool result a little bit earlier.

“If we’d been a bit more resilient and shown a better attitude in certain games, we could be sitting here with a few more points.

“But also we’re getting a little bit more consistency in terms of the training and the games coming thick and fast. We’re getting into a rhythm and let’s see where it takes us.”

City realistically would need to win all five remaining games to grab a play-off spot that seemed theirs for the taking up to January.

They are seven points behind sixth-placed Scunthorpe, who they face on the final day, but have played one less.

But Grayson insists it is vital they finish strongly regardless – and will play a factor in recruiting transfer targets over the summer.

“It will get a feelgood vibe back at the club and be easier to attract players to come here when you finish the season well.

“It’s all right saying this is a big club and there are a large number who come through the gates. But if you lose the last five, people may think it’s not as good as it’s made out to be.

“But win three or four and players will come because they think there’s a genuine belief that things can happen next year if we don’t get to the play-offs.”

Having improved at Valley Parade, City will look to stop the rot on the road at Spotland. They have lost the last four away games under Grayson without scoring a goal.

He added: “We’ve not turned up for long parts of games and been too easy to play against.

“Blackburn was a game where they were dominant but you saw again the other night how good they are. Then we capitulated at Blackpool, which we shouldn’t do.

“You’ve seen the confidence is coming back to the team. The result on Tuesday will have given the players a big boost and we’ve got to take that into an away performance.

“They have known how to win them many times. Over the early part of the season, the away record was better than home.

“What we’ve got to do is combine the both of them if we are still going to win matches.”

Nicky Law was fit to return to training yesterday but Tyrell Robinson will see a specialist on Monday over his injured shoulder.

City are hopeful the problem, which he suffered late on in the win over Portsmouth, will not prove to be as serious as they first feared.

Meanwhile, Alex Jones yesterday had another operation on his troublesome ankle and is ruled out for the rest of the season.