ANOTHER long trip, just like the last one, will signal the end of the road for City’s season on the motorway.

But Mark Hughes is adamant there will be no other similarities with Colchester when the Bantams face play-off contenders Sutton this weekend.

While the seventh-placed hosts still have it all to play for in the congested League Two promotion battle, City have little more than pride on the line for their final away game in south London.

Hughes, though, believes that should be a strong enough motivating factor – and does not anticipate a repeat of their Easter Monday misery in Essex because of the high stakes facing their opponents.

“It keeps us honest,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we give a good account of ourselves.

“If one team’s flying and one isn’t then you get caught out – as we unfortunately found out at Colchester.

“We’ve got that fresh in our minds, so I don’t anticipate it’s going to be a similar performance to what we produced against them. We’ll certainly guard against that.”

With only two games to go, Hughes has been keeping a keen eye for anyone who might be thinking of their beach holiday already. He hasn’t detected a drop in the level of intensity on the training ground.

The City boss added: “I’ve been in the game a long time so you get an understanding of that. For the most part, I have to say the players have been excellent.

“It’s all about standards. Every single day we come to work there’s a standard that’s acceptable and one that isn’t.

“They are well aware of where I’m coming from in that regard. They know I don’t accept the lowering of standards.

“We’ve got to make sure our bar is high in terms of what we do day in, day out and against good opposition we need to be working at a level that enables us to compete and prosper.

“The disappointment of Colchester was rectified with the level of performance at the weekend against Scunthorpe. More of that level is what we need.

“It’s not an easy place to go but we need to be able to compete week in, week out and still cause problems for good teams.”

Sutton have enjoyed a superb first season in League Two after winning the National League title.

In the last two seasons, they have won 28 out of 43 games at Ganders Green Lane – with only six defeats. Hughes is not surprised to see them still “riding the wave” from last year.

“There’s not a huge gulf between League Two and the National League. They are very close.

“That’s been borne out over a number of seasons when teams have come up and galloped through League Two quite quickly just on the back of the momentum from going up.

“It does happen, so we’ve got to be mindful of that. I’m sure they are still riding the wave from what they had last year.

“Credit to them. Winning is a habit that you can acquire and it’s great if you can.

“You get used to working at the correct level and having that expectation that you’re going to win, rather than just hoping you will.

“It’s about mentality and belief. If you’ve got that in abundance, it can take you a long way.

“Even if your performance level drops, that belief you’re going to get something out of games is instilled in you. They seem to have demonstrated that this year.”