GRAHAM Alexander has thrown down the Trophy gauntlet for his team to keep their City shirts tonight.

The Bantams head to Derby in the last 16 of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy – the club’s first visit to Pride Park since 2004 in the Championship.

City will need to make changes at the back where two defenders are suspended after picking up second bookings in the competition.

Brad Halliday misses his first game since Alexander took the helm and Ciaran Kelly is also out.

The City boss, who has midfielder Emmanuel Osadebe available after serving his three-game ban, may consider further changes after Saturday’s home shock against Crawley.

And he insists that places will be up for grabs.

“Sometimes it’s good to have games in quick succession after a really disappointing result,” said Alexander.

“We have to make a few changes. We’ve got a couple suspended anyway, so it will be an opportunity for some players to come into the team and show what they can do.

“We had a game like this after Notts County where we made a few adjustments and players kept their place in the team.

“The challenge for everyone is to try to win the game and put in a performance that keeps you in the team.

“That’s how I’ve run things as a manager at my clubs. It’s got to be a merit-based environment, where you deserve to be in the team.”

Alexander has stuck with a settled line-up since that Meadow Lane defeat early in his reign. But he stressed the door is not closed for others.

“We need to have that competition. We haven’t won for four games now and we weren’t good enough at both ends on Saturday, so there are opportunities for people.

“But the players who have played so well in the last seven or eight games have still got credit in the bank. I’m not thinking that, all of a sudden, I’ve got a bunch of bad players.

“That’s certainly not the case. These are good players who have just had a bad day at the office.”

Alexander was critical of the missed scoring chances on Saturday that could have put the game beyond doubt before Crawley’s grandstand finish.

City have had 36 efforts at goal – 12 on target - in their last two defeats.

But they have scored just twice – one from Liam Ridehalgh’s misdirected cross that sailed in and the other after Crawley keeper Corey Addai deflected Andy Cook’s penalty into his own net.

Alexander added: “When I came here, I think the team were in the bottom three for scoring goals this season. Our goals-per-game has been pretty good since.

“You can coach and encourage that and I do think we have players who can score goals in our squad.

“We can certainly impact them but, ultimately, it’s the players who go over the white line and do the job.”