Bradford City v Chesterfield: Graham Alexander tells Bantams to get serious and be in control of League Two 'destiny'

Thus far in 2024-25, his Bradford City side have shown their credentials only intermittently.

It explains why their Boxing Day win over a side in the automatic promotion positions in Port Vale won’t mean too much if they fail to back it up against another visitor who find themselves towards the business end of the table in Chesterfield on Sunday.

Alexander said: "The league table is the gauge and where you are after a certain amount of games.

"You can talk about certain games and all those little points. But you know in a season after 20 games that there's things we can do better.

"We have to take things in our own hands if we want to be in control of our own destiny. With better aspects in terms of committing to our game, I think we will be the team we expect to be and the challenge is there for us and we will go full into it."

Successfully coping with the pressure of being a Bantams player in the fourth tier is part of the ticket for anyone who wears the claret and amber and it’s an ongoing challenge according to Alexander. While City remain in a comparatively modest 10th, they remain the team who most rivals still want to beat above any other.

Alexander, whose side are three points adrift of the fifth-placed Spireites - one of three clubs in the top seven on 34 points - added: "We have to try and get around that if we can. It’s a good place to be and I think it shows we mean something as a club and have got something about us, but we have to justify it.

"I said it when I came in, I want people to talk about Bradford as a good team and not just a big club."