Bradford City boss Graham Alexander sick of playing 'snakes and ladders' as he contemplates changing preparations for League Two home games

A brace from Christian Doidge, who opened the scoring in the first minute and added a second from the spot in second-half stoppage time earned Steve Cotterill's side a fourth victory in seven league games to move out of the relegation positions.

In the process, it ended City's six-match unbeaten run in the league and significantly checked their play-off push.

Alexander said: "It’s a bit like snakes and ladders, we get there and slide down again. It’s something we have to correct, without a shadow of a doubt, because mid-table is not good enough.

"It’s been like that since I came in. We’ve been chasing all the time because of the position we were in.

"That was the 23rd game since Notts County and only the fifth defeat. We’ve probably drawn too many.

"At home, there’s been that extra pressure on us to do it and the league table builds that up.

"We have to take that out of our heads if we can. I believe we have performance-wise but Doncaster we weren’t good enough first half and last night was the same.

"How we prepare for a game at Valley Parade is something we have to look at.

"Are we doing things different here in the final hour or 75 minutes in the changing room that we don’t do away from home?

"Our away record is excellent, but it’s the draws at home when we’ve been the dominant team and should have won and the opposition have taken valuable points off our tally.

"There are a lot of lads who have been here a lot longer than me and I think it’s a recurring theme at Valley Parade.

"You’ve got to look at the circumstances. Away teams always play differently compared to what they do at other grounds.

"What we have to focus on is our mental and physical preparation and how we start a game.

"We did correct it and that’s the first time in quite a while we’ve been hurt like that early on in a game.

"It’s certainly something we have to fix. If it’s the opposition doing something different, we have to do something different to overcome it."

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Meanwhile, Alexander is refusing to use the state of the Valley Parade surface as an excuse for City's defeat.

Alexander, whose side are due to welcome high-flying Mansfield Town on Saturday before entertaining Notts County on Tuesday, continued: "There’s nothing we can do about it now.

"There are a load of things that go into winning a game of football and winning regularly.

"There’s a lot we can do better than doesn’t include the state of the pitch."