TWO home games, just one point and City face having to do it the hard way again.

Paudie O’Connor admitted they missed a trick with the double disappointment from a winless week at Valley Parade.

Tuesday’s woeful loss to Hartlepool on the back of Bristol Rovers stealing a late draw has cranked up frustration levels on and off the field.

Instead of heading for third-placed Swindon as play-off equals, the Bantams are still chasing the pack from mid-table.

“It was looking good with five minutes to go on Saturday,” said O’Connor. “Then suddenly you’re dealt with a sucker punch.

“We made it more difficult for ourselves with the way we started against Hartlepool.

“Everyone in the changing room was massively disappointed. It wasn’t how we wanted to do after a positive performance for most of the game against Bristol Rovers.

“We were nowhere near good enough and we felt pretty gutted.

“We looked at the two home games as a good opportunity to put points on the board. But that’s not happened and now we’ve got to roll up our sleeves to put it right.”

Saturday's hosts Swindon have won only once in six attempts at the County Ground. Their strength so far lies in an unbeaten away record.

But Hartlepool’s run prior to their Valley Parade triumph proved the League Two form guide can count for very little.

O’Connor added: “We’ve had words with ourselves in the dressing room that we’ll keep confidential.

“But we’ve got to try and give the fans something to cheer about going to Swindon because Tuesday was nowhere near good enough.

“There was a lot of anger and rightly so.

“We’ll hold our hands up if a team plays us off the park and we’re not good enough.

“But I don’t think that was the case. There was sloppiness in the defensive third and we weren’t clinical enough in the final third, which proved the difference.

“We’ve got to look at ourselves first and foremost and try to rectify that straight away.

“Teams come to Valley Parade and see it as a bit of a cup final when they play Bradford City and probably give that extra couple of per cent.

“I’ve been here long enough to know that but I think a few of the newer lads are starting to see that this season.

“Now we go to Swindon and try to do that to them.”

Having begun October with successive clean sheets, City conceded five goals in the last three halves – while the problem of taking their own chances remains.

O’Connor, who scored City’s goal on Tuesday, added: “I know we’re beating the same drum here but ultimately we’ve got to start taking more of them.

“We’re not going to win games by finishing the way we are at the moment.

“You’re always playing a dangerous game there. One mistake or one slip and the game is over.”

The defender knows City need to quickly restore faith among a fanbase who are loudly questioning their promotion credentials.

“I can’t argue with that after the last couple of results,” he added.

“But what I will say is that it’s October. That’s the only good thing.

“You saw last year where we were at Christmas and then after a few weeks we were suddenly halfway up the table.

“We won’t be hitting the panic button any time soon.

“You get 14-15,000 supporters at home every week and they deserve to see their club play higher up the league.

“We’ll knuckle down and try and get everyone singing off the same hymn sheet. It’s not for a lack of trying, I’ll tell you that for a fact.

“We’ll keep doing what the gaffer asks of us. Once we tighten up defensively and start helping each other out a little bit more, I think we’ll be okay.”