A GLANCE at the faces sat behind him confirmed to Derek Adams that City are in good shape for the next gruelling chunk of the League Two schedule.

The short trip to Rochdale, when the Bantams can expected to be backed by a near 3,000-strong army, starts a run of seven games in three weeks.

Adams will view the busy spell as a chance to make real progress in chasing down the division’s leading pack.

And he now feels they have the resources available to cope.

The experience on show in reserve against Salford proved that to the Bantams chief.

“That was probably the strongest bench we’ve had all season,” he said, “going in with the amount of players that have played a lot of game time.

“You look at (Richard) O’Donnell, Callum Cooke, Andy Cook, Yann Songo’o, Theo Robinson, (Caolan) Lavery, (Matty) Foulds.

“They’ve all started games this season, so it was a very strong bench. That can only help the ones on the pitch as well.

“You need that because in certain games we’ll pick different players. That will happen between now and the end of the season because a lot of teams play different formations and you can’t play the same way all the time.”

Cook and Cooke both had a hand in goals within minutes of coming on to show that game-changing impact that Adams wants.

“That’s really important. I’ve seen it a number of times this season where players have come on to the pitch and enabled us to do better and get the end result.

“The strength of the bench can sometimes tell you the strength of your 11 is good.”

Midweek capture Matty Daly will add to the competition to face Dale and Adams also has Dion Pereira in contention at last after the on-loan Luton man got over his illness.

With Oscar Threlkeld back in training after the knee problem which forced him to miss the win over his former club, Adams has everyone bar long-term casualty Abo Eisa to pick from.
And he is hopeful of having another new face at the club in time for the game at Spotland if all goes to plan.

It is a much healthier state than City found themselves in a couple of months ago when they were unable to name a full bench for the FA Cup replay “replay” at Exeter.

Adams added: “We’ve had the injuries and suspensions as well but we’ve been able to overcome that.

“We’ve added to the squad, which has helped us, and we’ve only let one player go. We’re in a much stronger position.

“The ones that aren’t in the 18-man squad are fighting to get themselves involved. At this moment, we’ve got a lot more competition than we did a number of weeks ago.”

With matches in four of the next five midweeks, Adams is likely to shuffle things about as he did in City’s first home win for three months.

“We’re going to be able to make changes – as we were able to last Saturday. We made five for one reason or another, which benefits the squad.

“Winning the game and being able to change five players who are match fit as well can only help us as a squad.

“There are players who have been here before who felt they were a mainstay in the team. That’s not the case anymore because we’ve taken in the competition.

“Everyone has to work for the starting berth and that can only help us in the remaining weeks of the season.

“Having the new players come in increases the competition for places. We’ve taken in players that are ready to go and play in the first team.”