THERE are 11 more weekends for City to rectify one of the sorriest statistics of 2018.

What do March 24 and August 4 have in common?

They are the only two Saturdays when City have celebrated a victory this year.

Simon Grayson’s side nervously edged Gillingham at Valley Parade last season and Michael Collins marked his dug-out debut with a win at Shrewsbury on the opening day of this one.

Otherwise it’s been a familiar pattern of Bantams supporters needing to drown their sorrows after another Saturday setback.

In fact, City have avoided defeat just six times in 28 weekend matches – picking up just 10 league points along the way.

Beginning with that infamous FA Cup exit at Yeovil up to the latest loss to Accrington which left David Hopkin raging, it is a calendar of misery.

The exceptions, other than those two wins, were the draws against Bury, Rochdale and Scunthorpe last season and Bristol Rovers last month.

Bury came under Greg Abbott’s caretaker control in the wake of Stuart McCall’s sacking – a 2-2 draw where victory was snatched away deep in stoppage time.

Rochdale was a point gift-wrapped by keeper Josh Lillis dropping a cross at Charlie Wyke’s feet in the last minute; Scunthorpe a dead rubber against a side keeping their powder dry for the play-offs.

City were cursing the woodwork the other week against Rovers – but at least they did manage a clean sheet. That’s only previously happened in the two Saturday wins.

However you want to dress it up, the statistics don’t lie as they lay bare the collapse of this club since the turn of the year.

To put it in context, City won five Saturday games in September alone last season.

The Bantams have scored just 16 weekend goals in 2018 – averaging barely over one every two games. They have managed two only twice and only scored first six times.

Is it really any wonder that season ticket sales dropped off significantly over the summer?

The numbers make it clear why the divide continues to grow between an increasingly-jaundiced fanbase and the club’s owners.

Supporters cannot believe how a team that had effectively rubber-stamped their play-off place for the previous 18 months can suddenly fall off a cliff in such spectacular fashion.

Simon Grayson could not halt the slide in three months of trying nor Collins in his “blink-and-you-miss it” spell thrust in the Valley Parade spotlight.

Hopkin is the latest incumbent to attempt to stop the free-fall – a meaty challenge that he clearly relished on arrival.

But Saturday’s eye-opening flop at Accrington illustrated what he must work with before the potential sanctuary of the next transfer window.

Even when January comes – and you couldn’t blame the Scot for ticking off the minutes right now let alone the days – any salvage operation will hinge on the amount of financial power to his elbow.

Fingers remain pointed over City’s short-comings in the mid-season window last time.

The failure to follow up the promises that McCall would be backed if the team were genuine top-six contenders – they were fifth at the time – held up as “exhibit A” in the critics’ case against Edin Rahic and Stefan Rupp.

How can Hopkin be sure that he will get the support he wants to chop and change a squad that was dismantled and rebuilt over a frantic summer?

It is very clear that he expects no interference in choosing and chasing the targets that he is already identifying. Hopkin is very much his own man in the transfer market – signings by committee don’t appear to be on his agenda.

Will he be allowed that freedom to shop unhindered? The dynamic between head coach and chairman will be carefully scrutinised during a period that could shape the club’s immediate future.

Not to put too fine a point on it but what goes on in the January market is, even at this early stage, threatening to make or break City’s campaign.

The real fear is that they start to drift away in the mean time and reach the window well back on the pack.

In the aftermath of Accrington, a furious Hopkin spoke of concocting a plan to see them through the remaining two months of a year that every City watcher cannot wait to wave off with two fingers in the air.

Winning again on a Saturday would be the ideal start. The next two weekends against Rochdale and Gillingham, both sides immediately above them, offer an opportunity that cannot afford to be missed.