CITY cannot afford another slow start against basement club Grimsby.

The Bantams struggled to get out of the blocks at Stevenage on Monday before fighting back for a point.

They won’t want to repeat that sluggish opening against the Mariners – who have scored in the first 10 minutes of each of their last three games.

Grimsby failed to hang on to the lead in any of them – a shortcoming that is proving very costly in their desperate bid to stave off the drop to the National League.

Paul Hurst’s side are in decent form and have not lost in their last eight games. But seven of those have been drawn, with the last three all finishing with a 1-1 outcome.

That’s why Grimsby remain deep in the mire as opportunities continue to run out. They are seven points behind Colchester in the last survival spot but do have a game in hand.

Hurst was close to being appointed at the Valley Parade helm before Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars seized their chance.

Instead, he returned to Grimsby, who he had led back to the EFL in 2016.

Hurst took only one point from his first six games back in charge and has won just two out of 18.

That has to change fast with a tough run-in – but Hurst hopes the belief from their current unbeaten charge should offer some hope.

He said: “I’ve said to the players we keep on fighting to the death, whenever that is, but the team have to take some confidence.

“I don’t think anyone could envisage that we would be in that place to go on that sort of run. Admittedly, with how the points work, we’d have been better losing some games and winning some, I accept that.

“But I think we’ve put a bit of pride back in the team, and at the minute we’re getting more respect from teams. Whether it’s enough, we’ll find out in the next month, but we're getting the best out of the group.”