CURTIS Tilt admitted City were right to “rein him in” and make him wait to come back.
Tilt has made a powerful return to the ranks since Christmas after missing more than three months following a hamstring operation.
That injury at Doncaster at the beginning of September stopped the summer signing in his tracks after settling well in the opening month.
It was a hugely frustrating spell for the big centre half to be stuck on the sidelines but he felt Graham Alexander and the City staff managed his recovery spot on.
“I had to knuckle down because it was quite a long period of time out,” said Tilt. “I like to play football and to help the lads.
“I started well and it was just frustrating to get injured. It's been a tough time.
“Coming to the latter end of the injury, when I was back on the grass, the gaffer managed me quite well.
“I'm one of those types of players who I know gets frustrated because I want to be out there. He's had to wind me back a little bit.
“All I can say is thank you to him for making sure I'm back right and not putting myself out there too early.
“I was dying to get back out there but the gaffer and the medical staff just reined me in many times, if I'm honest, and looked after me.
“There were probably times where I've gone home and I've been pretty moody.
“But it helped that the lads were doing all right when I was out and we stayed amongst it. Even though I wasn't on the pitch, I was happy with every three points.
“Hopefully now I can just stay injury-free and give as much as I can for the club.”
Tilt has started three of the last four games and did a good job against Cardiff target man Yousef Salech in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the League One leaders.
“I'm glad to be out there and giving my all and trying to win as many games as we can.
“I love battling with the strikers. I just enjoy trying to get the better of them, whether it's Salech or whoever it is.
“I just like competing and trying to win my battles, win my duels and win the games as many as we can.”
Alexander sees his presence as a lift for the fans as much as the players around him.
The City boss said: “He had a significant injury for any player, for any athlete, certainly a quick mobile athlete, which he is.
“We had to give him the time to get up to speed and then he had to try and get back in the team because the team was doing really well.
"I think the last couple of games he's been superb for us, as have others.
“But we know how important these big characters can be, not only for our team but for our support and for their teammates and Tilty certainly is."
Tilt felt the Bantams were unfortunate not to take something from the weekend after fighting back from two goals down.
The defender added: “Cardiff are top of the league for a reason. They're a good, strong side.
“To be fair to them, I think the first 20 minutes, they dictated the game and you have to applaud that.
“They probably had two chances in that time and scored two goals. It's a little bit frustrating for us that we couldn't just dig in and ride that storm a little bit more and then hopefully make a few tweaks like the gaffer did and take the game to them.
“We were unlucky not to go in 2-1 at half-time and then second half was back to what we do. We took the game to them from 45 minutes on to 97 minutes.
“I think we were the better team second half and were unlucky not to come away with at least a point.”
