JAKE Young has urged City to prove they are going to be no pushovers after their late agony at Barrow.

The Bantams must pick themselves up from Saturday’s injury-time sickener when they conceded the home winner minutes after Andy Cook looked to have rescued a point.

As Mark Hughes prepares his men to face Championship Hull in the Carabao Cup tomorrow, striker Young admitted they need to toughen up quickly.

He said: “We don’t want to show we have that soft underbelly and let teams do that to us.

“We don’t want them thinking they can bully us. We need to nip that in the bud.

“We’ve got to make sure we are strong enough to deal with that, defend as a team and put our bodies on the line when it’s required.

“I know the lads are capable of doing that side of the game. It’s something we’ll definitely focus on.

“Luckily it was only the second game of the season and we can’t allow that to happen again if we want to be successful.”

Young had scored City’s first goal at Holker Street as they twice hit back to level. But the last-gasp loss immediately puts the spotlight on a side tipped to challenge this season.

“We’ve got to respond well,” added Young. “We’ve got the game tomorrow and there’s a chance to bounce back.

“It’s a big club and there’s that pressure. But the least you expect if things aren’t going your way or you’re not having a good day on the ball, is to make sure you defend that goal and do the basic things.

“You can still affect the game doing that. That’s where we were disappointed and I’m sure the fans felt the same.”

Young is pushing for a Valley Parade start against the Tigers after his positive performance from the bench. A frustrated Hughes picked out the sub’s contribution in a poor team display.

Young said: “It’s what I’ve wanted to do when I come on, affect the game and take my opportunity.

“We haven’t really created too much. We just needed to be a bit more direct so I said to myself to get on the ball and get at them and try to make something happen.

“I’d like to think I did but ultimately it’s not meant what I hoped it would mean when I was going to sleep on Friday night.

“I was thinking of scoring and coming away with three points but hopefully the next goal will mean a lot more.”

“It was a good moment at the time but it’s bittersweet looking at the result.”

City are braced for more bad news when Jamie Walker sees the specialist today about his knee injury.

“It doesn’t sound good,” said Hughes. “He’s going to be out for a number of weeks at least.”

The Bantams boss felt his players were not brave enough to stand up to Barrow's direct approach and play their own game.

“We’ve got to be able to front up to that type of football. We’ll face it more than any other this season at this level.

“At 2-2 you see the game out. A sign of a good team is when you take something out the game when you haven’t played particularly well and we haven’t been able to do that.

“You’re at your most vulnerable when you’ve scored and there was maybe a case of that.

“But we’d come back twice to good effect and to lose at the end was poor from us.”