IT WAS a strong message to the stands and the dressing room.

Seeing Charles Vernam’s name among the substitutes on City’s team sheet at Swindon caused a pre-match stir among the fans.

“I’m sure there were a lot of supporters asking what’s the guy Adams doing?” laughed the Bantams boss at his own expense afterwards.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to allow your manager to get on and understand the game that it is and that’s what I do.”

Vernam’s absence from the starting 11 came as less of a shock among the squad. It was a decision that the manager had made earlier in the week in the wake of the Hartlepool upset.

But seeing arguably City’s most influential performer so far relegated to the County Ground’s uncomfortable plastic seats in the away dug-out – where he would remain unused – was a statement of intent to every player.

The reshuffle in both formation and personnel from the first home defeat of the season underlined Adams’ “horses for courses” philosophy. It was a reminder that no shirt is guaranteed.

“We had worked on how we would play going into the game,” he said.

“We understood what Swindon had done well this season and where we could exploit them. That was always going to be the reason for playing this team.

“We will continue to do that. Once we get everyone back, it gives us better options to change things around.

“We’ve still got the likes of (Lee) Angol and (Abo) Eisa to come back into it. We’ve got (Liam) Ridehalgh, Callum Cooke and Sam Hornby as well.”

A City team minus Cooke and Vernam still produced their best away performance of the season at Swindon – with all three goals provided by players getting off the mark for the first time.

Caolan Lavery, Levi Sutton and, most impressively, Theo Robinson broke their ducks to make it 11 different names on the scoresheet this season.

Adams has been keen to spread the load rather than relying too heavily on Andy Cook and the likes of Vernam to always get the goals.

Morecambe’s promotion under Adams last season was spearheaded by main men Carlos Mendes Gomes and Cole Stockton but they had 16 different scorers in all.

That is something that the Scot is keen to replicate at Valley Parade.

“You do need more of that,” added Adams. “You can’t rely on a few players for the goals.

“At Morecambe, we had John O’Sullivan, (Aaron) Wildig and Toumani Diagouraga all contributing with goals. I think Yann Songo’o scored six.

“You need players from all over the park to contribute for you to be successful and we’ve certainly started to get that now.

“Andy Cook had a great chance in the second half to score. It was probably harder for him to miss the target because he had done so well to get himself into that position.

“But I think on the whole when we’ve got the likes of Robinson and Lavery getting off the mark for the football club and Levi Sutton as well, that’s hugely beneficial for us.”

For Lavery and Robinson in particular, Saturday represented a watershed moment after both striker have endured a bitty arrival in West Yorkshire.

Adams said: “When you come to a new club, you want to start off really quickly. Unfortunately, the two of them were behind fitness-wise and then they picked up slight injuries.

“That is going to happen because of the lack of work that they probably had during pre-season.

“But now they are back fit and they’ve got their first goals. Robinson’s was a magnificent goal and Lavery’s was a very good striker’s finish.

“We’ve also got Eisa and Angol getting there. It’s just waiting for them to come back into full training with the group.

“I’m still unsure when that will be but for myself and the supporters, it’s hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Saturday’s goals took some of the heat off waiting for Angol’s return after two months on the sidelines nursing his damaged hamstring.

Adams is trying to remain patient as he waits for the green light from the club’s medical staff.

“Once they release him to my squad, then I have to analyse where he is fitness-wise and how he looks in training.

“When you have to get players back to fitness, it takes them a bit of time to gel again and get used to training and playing games.

“That’s just what we need to get used to with him.

“I have to judge how many minutes he can play. It’s not going to be that he can come back in and play 90 minutes, he will have to be progressively moved back in.”