Giant defender Luke Oliver still has high hopes for City’s home form despite the worrying start.

The Bantams, currently sat only a point off the bottom, have lost their last three Valley Parade outings and looked unconvincing in the only league win over Stevenage.

Next up is Saturday’s visit from a Gillingham side who have not won on the road since May 2009.

But Oliver believes there is no reason for the team to be inhibited in front of their own fans.

He said: “At the moment, it seems a negative playing at home. But no way is that the case.

“It’s a massive positive for us and as soon as we start getting a few results there, the crowd will be such a big bonus.

“A couple of wins will lift expectations and make a difference – and we need them to come sooner rather than later.”

City snapped a four-game losing streak with a draw at Stockport, although the towering centre half admitted it was a bitter blow not to see out the victory after David Syers had netted first.

Oliver added: “It was a decent away performance but we needed that second goal to kill it off.

“You get into the frame of mind that you’re going to get three points so it was disappointing. You’d take an away point a lot of the time but due to previous results we really wanted the win.”

Oliver has started the most games of all four central defenders. Peter Taylor has stuck with his partnership alongside Shane Duff for the last two outings and his fellow summer signing feels it is working well.

“It does help because you start to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I’m quite happy with the way things are going.

“Shane keeps telling us that he’s been at Cheltenham since he was three years old! But he’s played a lot of league games and has good experience so you can only learn from people like that.

“The team had a good shape as a whole last week and we looked harder to break down. That’s the way you want to be but we’ve got to try to keep the ball better.

“Our belief is still there. We’re a bit low in confidence but we know where we are capable of finishing.

“As long as we can start putting performances together, then results will take care of themselves.”