DAVID Hopkin insists the team must always come first as City eye FA Cup progress with a first win in 11 games.

Hopkin was impressed by the diligent approach that snapped the six-game league losing streak with a point at Peterborough.

Now the boot is on the other foot when the Bantams start as clear favourites in their first-round replay with Aldershot at Valley Parade.

But Hopkin will again look for that group mentality to overcome the non-league opposition – and book another trip to Posh a week on Saturday.

He said: “It’s taken more time than I thought because we’ve had a lot of injuries and suspensions.

“But everybody has realised we are getting a bit stronger as a squad.

“Now we’re getting players back, the mentality is changing. I think players are realising how hard we have to work to get away from where we are.

“But anyone who’s watched the games in the last few weeks, we don’t look like a team sitting bottom of League One.

“The last two or three games, we’ve probably got as close to the strongest XI as we can get and the players realise that the team comes first.

“On Saturday, we had our creative players Jack Payne and David Ball working extremely hard in the wide areas. I thought they were excellent.

“But if you want to go to the next level, these are the things that are expected the higher up you go.

Eoin Doyle worked really hard up front – it’s a hard shift when you’re playing up there by yourself.

“But the team’s needs come first and I think everyone can appreciate that.

“Make sure we stick to what we’re going to do with the game-plan and the results have started to come.”

Hopkin is likely to give Jim O’Brien a start in midfield but right back Paul Caddis is not eligible to play. The City boss intends to name a strong side to land a first victory since beating Wimbledon on October 2.

He added: “It’s important we get a win. Obviously, the players need one now to show that we can.

“Over the last three or four weeks, we’ve been really close to it.

“The players are upbeat and Saturday should give them great confidence. Peterborough are probably the biggest attacking threat in League One and we came up with a system to nullify it.

“A win changes everything and obviously we’ve got a massive game against Oxford coming up on Saturday.

“But every game now is massive – if you get a win, hopefully we can start getting two or three.

“I want to get a bit of momentum going. There’s no point in changing things all the time.

“It’s important we get a run of results together. I’ve seen good signs from the players about wanting to fight.”

Aldershot were beaten 4-0 at Salford at the weekend and lost striker Scott Rendell with injury. But Hopkin is wary of the threat from an opposition with a “free hit” at Valley Parade.

“The first game was a bit of a non-entity,” he said. “Both sides played a good game in very trying conditions.

“The longer it went, it was like two rivers running down the sides.

“But it’s a mentality thing now. The tide is getting turned on us now.

“What we did on Saturday, Aldershot might try to do to us – sit and make it hard to break down.

“We have to be patient and impose how we want to play on them. All the pressure’s on us and Aldershot have got a free hit to try and cause an upset.”

Meanwhile, Hopkin hopes to have Luca Colville, Kelvin Mellor, Alex Jones and Joe Riley all back in training next week.