Bantams boss Graham Alexander has no grudge with MK Dons

The Bantams are chasing back-to-back league wins in the first of three successive Valley Parade games that look pivotal for their season.

Alexander also comes face to face with the club who sacked him in October after just 16 games in charge.

But he is adamant there is no grudge with the visitors as he targets a first home league win of the year.

The City boss said: “It’s not like that at all. I don’t feel I was there long enough to have that.

“Honestly, my only focus, attention, energy, everything is on Bradford City.

“This game is too tough to carry a baggage of bitterness around so I drop it the minute I walk out the door and crack on with the future.”

Alexander was named League Two manager of the month for August after a fast start with Milton Keynes.

But a run of eight league games without a win saw him lose the job two months later.

City ended a similar barren run at the weekend with a battling victory at Wrexham and Alexander wants to follow that up with another three points back on home soil.

“The home record has not been good enough,” he added. “That’s what we’ve talked about.

“It’s another game against a very good team on a strong run. But we have to take the confidence and belief from Saturday that we can go up against anyone if we do the things we talk about.

“If we do that, it’s a framework for a winning team.

“It’s (down to) the players to join up the dots when they cross the line. But if we stick to that framework and connect to each other then we’re a very good team.”

Lewis Richards is set to miss out after suffering a whack in the head in the first half against Wrexham. Liam Ridehalgh could come back in or Alexander may opt to stick with Alex Gilliead in the wing-back role.

Jake Young and Kevin McDonald are both pushing for starts after the subs did an effective job from the bench.

Kevin McDonald, left, could start but Lewis Richards is a big doubt (Image: Tom Pearson)

Alexander said: “We’ve got a squad now where I feel we can make changes and bring people into the team, either during the game, at half-time or for a different fixture.

“We’ve got a real busy spell coming up and I want to learn from over the Christmas period when I kept the same team. We saw a deterioration in our output.

“I want to keep those guys fresh and make sure that we use 17, 18, 19 players over this period to get as many points as possible. I feel we have the quality to do that.”

Alexander has steered City into the EFL Trophy semi-finals for the first time but they have won just once at home in the league under his command. Four of the last five have been drawn.

“We’ve only lost three out of the last 17 games since Notts County.

“That’s a pretty decent record but it’s the draws that have hurt us.

“The draws when we should have won are what have really kept us out of that picture.

“If we can turn those around, like we did on Saturday when we were drawing the game and went and won it late on, and do it more often, I think we’ll be in a good place.

“Let’s focus on another tough game first.”