STILL BEDDING IN?

How long should a new squad be given to find their feet and gel as a group?

The season is nine games in now and while City have looked good in patches, they are yet to entirely convince even in the four wins.

There is a spirit to recover from body blows – and they could have grabbed a late point at Cheltenham – but the team is yet to really click. All three losses have come against teams currently in the top five.

VAUGHAN ON THE BRINK

Captain James Vaughan is close to missing his first game of the season through suspension.

Vaughan has been on three bookings since the Forest Green defeat. But his yellow card for a foul on Jacob Greaves just before half-time leaves him one away from a ban.

Given the way that the skipper throws himself around the field, that is likely to happen sooner rather than later.

CENTRAL FLAW

City’s centre midfield remains an ongoing issue. Gary Bowyer replaced Danny Devine with Jermaine Anderson to add a bit more physicality but they lacked that “oomph” in there.

Bowyer remains cautious over giving Callum Cooke too many minutes too soon after a disrupted pre-season at Peterborough.

But it was noticeable how Matty Palmer’s game picked up and he found more time on the ball when Cooke came off the bench midway through the second half.

DON’T TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED

City’s solid start to the season defensively had rightly drawn praise after letting in only five goals in the first eight League Two games.

Bowyer sensed the pride in that record – the best from a Bantams team in 25 years.

But it was all undone in the second half on Tuesday as City were opened up three times in 22 minutes. Worryingly, two of those came from set-pieces, an area where they had been looking fairly strong in previous weeks.

LACK OF COMPOSURE

Clayton Donaldson is a handful for every defence at this level and he gives City an outlet when they go long.

But he does miss chances. As Bowyer pointed out, the big man could have had a hat-trick at Cheltenham.

There were a couple of particularly inviting chances, one in the first half from Dylan Connolly’s cross and then in the late scramble as City chased a second equaliser.