Bradford City boss Graham Alexander's debt of gratitude to 'fantastic' away fans - and 'extra responsibility'

City's outstanding form at Valley Parade is underpinning their second successive promotion tilt - and they are top of the League One home table with an excellent 44 points from 18 matches thus far - including 14 wins.

Away from home, it's a different story, with Alexander's side having taken just 17 points from 17 matches. They are ranked a modest 14th in the away table ahead of successive trips to face Port Vale and Wigan Athletic this week.

Despite City's numbers on their travels, they will not be short on the support stakes.

On Saturday, a sell-out 4,600 contingent will head across the Pennines to Wigan.

Almost 2,000 made the long trek to Berkshire to see the recent away game at Reading, where the Bantams suffered an agonising late loss, conceding two goals after previously dominating in a painful 2-1 reverse - with Matt Pennington having given them the lead midway through the second half.

It was City's sixth away defeat in their past seven matches, but despite a tough run, there has been admirable patience and backing among fans.

Alexander, whose high-flying side visit FA Cup giant-killers Vale on Wednesday, said: "I think it comes from what we've built up over time, that faith in us and that consistency of how we approach games.

"I don't think they ever look at our team and think, ‘well, they're not even trying to win or they're just sitting back and waiting to get beaten’. They don't ever see that from our team.

"Recently, it's not gone great for us because we’ve conceded early goals away from home. We didn’t at Reading and you saw a real performance from the team and I'm sure the supporters were as hurt at the end as we were.

"But I think the majority of them, after the sting of defeat, thought that was more like us. When we play like that, I think the support can identify with that team.

"They see the effort, the commitment and actually good skills and ability as well. I think it's important for us to showcase that.

"After the Wimbledon game was the first time I’ve apologise to the support for our performance. I've never done it before because I never felt we ever meant to play badly.

“But I just thought the commitment they've shown since January 1st all the way through, the way we conceded the goals was really poor.

“We know we've got a lot of imperfections, but we always try. I think they can identify with that, and their support is brilliant to see.

"We like to think we've given them really good moments away from home as well, even this season, in the Carabao Cup at Blackburn and Stoke and Cardiff away, all these games.

“I know as a supporter, you don't want to miss those times. You might have to get a couple of bangs on the nose, but you don't want to miss that one where you go, ‘that was the one I didn't go to.’

“I think our fans are always excited about what they potentially might see. I think we give them that and they respond to that.

“Their backing is fantastic and the players love it. I think we bring an energy to a stadium as well, both on and off the pitch.

“It's appreciated so much by us and it does give us an extra responsibility in ourselves to go out and perform and give them what they want."