Parkinson tells Bradford City players there’s no reason to nurse Port Vale hangover (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Phil Parkinson tells Bradford City players there’s no reason to nurse a Port Vale hangover

7:00am Tuesday 2nd October 2012 in Bantams By Simon Parker, Bradford City Reporter

Phil Parkinson cheered Rochdale’s win on Saturday but hopes City can bring them crashing back to earth tonight.

Dale became the first side to beat Gillingham this season with a 2-1 triumph at the Priestfield Stadium – a result welcomed by the chasing pack, who do not want to see the leaders disappearing over the horizon so early.

Now Parkinson is looking for his own side to bounce straight back from their frustrating first home loss by halting the Rochdale bandwagon in its tracks.

The Bantams chief said: “We’re up against a team who are doing well and full of confidence – which you’d expect after beating Gillingham away, albeit against ten men.

“That was a great result for the division and everybody was pleased they won. We certainly were.

“Rochdale should be up there. They’ve come down a division but retained some key players and added to that well.

“They’ve had some terrific results of late and come into this game on the back of a really good result. We come in on the back of a really good run and an outstanding performance.”

Parkinson reminded his players yesterday how well they had played against Port Vale at Valley Parade despite the final outcome. He wants to make sure there is no hangover this evening with any players feeling sorry for themselves.

He said: “It’s very important we don’t go into this game feeling we’ve been hard done by. We can’t go with that mindset.

“Things like that happen in football – but keep playing like that and we will get our rewards. There were so many good things.

“We just didn’t take one of those chances, particularly early on, which was the difference between a very good performance and a winning performance.

“The lads were tremendous – their fitness, sharpness, determination and quality of the passing – everything they did was very good indeed. I’ve told them that at training.

“On another day, we could have had two or three in the first 15 minutes. But it wasn’t to be and we can’t let that worry us.”

Vale’s winner came from a rare mistake by Gary Jones, who is set to make a big return to Spotland. The midfielder is Rochdale’s record appearance maker and guaranteed a special reception.

Parkinson said: “Gary is spoken of very highly there, which doesn’t surprise me after working with him for such a short space of time.”