Bantams boss Graham Alexander on late draw at Morecambe

Cheick Diabate’s fifth-minute own goal had them heading towards a fourth straight away defeat – against a home side without a win this season.

But the Bantams recovered to earn a draw with Jack Shepherd’s first goal of his loan spell.

Alexander said: “I believe it was a game of two halves – and the second was much more like us.

“I asked them at half-time to go out and show they were together. Don’t let your team-mates down – and none of them did.

“We were too safe in the first half. I said to the boys at half-time, ‘what’s the worst that can happen’.

“They stayed in the game. They kept their heads up, there was no bad body language.

Morecambe celebrate after Cheick Diabate's own goal (Image: Thomas Gadd)

“I could see them supporting and encouraging each other. That’s got to be the basis for us as a team.

“We have to use it as a springboard for that side of it but obviously we can’t ignore how we started another away game. We have to fix that.”

City fell behind early again and the defence was frequently carved open as Morecambe threatened to pile on more agony after Harrogate at the weekend.

“Their goal came out of nothing,” admitted Alexander. “We’ve got this Achilles heel and it just really knocked the stuffing out of us.

“It gave us a big setback and it took us a bit of time to recover from that, maybe because of the previous game. We were a bit shellshocked.

“We gradually got back into it after half an hour and looked a bit more stable and composed.

“There were a couple of things from Jay Benn and Cooky (Andy Cook) that could have got us back into the game.

“I didn’t make any changes at half-time because I wanted to see the response from the players and the character and personality.

“We talked a lot about what happened at Harrogate and how we have to fix it and show what we’re about.

“Obviously we got off to the worst start possible. But I didn’t want to make three or four changes at half-time, we’re trying to build this character.

“It’s a really young back four playing at the moment. That was Jay’s starting debut in the Football League and the two centre halves and Lewis (Richards) haven’t got a lot of experience.

“It was a real test for them and how we defended in the first half wasn’t good enough. But they showed great character in the second and looked much better.

“We were dominant after the first five minutes of the second half and certainly deserved an equaliser.”

Calum Kavanagh was one of four changes from Saturday (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Alexander resisted the temptation to start Paul Huntington, who remained on the bench. Alex Pattison was not in the squad after picking up an injury in the Harrogate defeat.

The City boss said: “It has been a challenging week and we’ve still got the injury list. But I believe the players we’re putting out right now are good enough to win games at this level.

“But they came into the team late. There are a few loan players in there and they haven’t had the same preparation as the team that started the first three or four games.

“They are getting up to speed and understanding that. But I think they showed great character in the second half and you need that personality to be successful.”