ALEX Bass insists his Valley Parade loan has been vital for his career – and made him a better keeper.

The 24-year-old makes his 16th City appearance this afternoon with the trip to high-flying Northampton.

Bass, who has kept four clean sheets since his January arrival from Portsmouth, is still waiting to find out where he will be playing next season.

He has another year on his contract at Fratton Park but has been given no indication so far whether they still see him as part of their plans in League One.

But Bass believes he is now proving he is a genuine number one keeper – wherever he ends up in August.

He said: “Going out on loan was much-needed at the time, I needed to get out and play games and show what I can do.

“When you’re sat watching, you’re always a little bit, ‘I don’t know what’s going on and maybe I could have done this or that.’ It’s a little bit frustrating.

“But when you get yourself in the team and you’re playing regularly, you get on a run of games and feel confident in yourself.

“The great thing when I first came in was that we were playing Saturday and Tuesday.

“I got to know the lads and it was a run of games to really get into it. You grow as a person, get to know how other people work and what gets them going.

“You build a relationship with people very quickly when you’re thrown into a team like that.

“When you’re playing week in, week out, you like to think you’ve got yourself a good opportunity to showcase your skills – if that’s with Portsmouth or anywhere else.

“Someone will be out there watching and I’ve shown that I can come back from where I’ve been.

“I’ve had a couple of injuries last season and a few things were said at the time about whether I’d be the same goalkeeper.

“Hopefully I’ve shown that I can play week in, week out and not get injured again.”

Bass fractured his leg in training at the start of last year – and then suffered the injury again in his first game back on loan with Southend. Playing regularly with the Bantams has helped put any lingering doubts behind him.

“It was a very dark time for me,” he admitted. “It was a weird one because I had a fracture of my fibula and then came back and refractured it.

“I just wanted to get out and prove that I could play and still had the ability.”

Bass admitted his form with City has been “hit and miss” at times but feels that has helped to improve his all-round approach.

“You learn the most from games when you know you could have done better with certain things,” he added.

“If you just play and win and you don’t touch the ball all game, you’re not really going to learn that much.

“Where we are, I feel like I’ve learnt and grown as a character and a player and hopefully I take that forward.

“As a person, you grow and learn from your mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes in a game and we’ve all got each other’s backs.”

Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley was at the Bristol Rovers game last week to watch Bass, although he did not announce his presence to the City keeper.

“I didn’t have a clue. Someone mentioned it and I saw it in the press but he doesn’t tell me when he’s going to come to a game.

“It was nice for me personally because it shows he has an interest. But I’m not thinking about that, I’m just thinking about playing at the moment.

“I’m here to the end of the season and that’s all I’m concentrating on at the moment.

“Obviously I have got another year at Portsmouth and that will take care of itself. For now, my main goal is playing well and playing well for Bradford.

“When I agreed to come out on loan, the gaffer told me to go out, play some games and enjoy myself. That’s what I’m doing and I haven’t had any discussions about anything.”

Bass at least has the security of knowing he is under contract for next season – unlike many of his current team-mates.

With 12 senior City players on deals due to expire in the summer, he can understand if any anxiety is creeping into their thoughts.

“Football’s a very strange world and it can be quite a horrible situation when you’re out of contract in the summer, knowing you haven’t got anywhere to go.

“You know you might have to up ship and move which is never nice.

“Knowing I’ve got another year does help, although I don’t actually know what’s going on.

“We didn’t have any discussions about what the plan is for next year for me or the club or anything.

“But I’ve got another year, so I guess it’s going back in for pre-season and seeing what they have to say.”