Bradford City v Salford: Graham Alexander seeking quick antidote to an untimely bout of winter homesickness

After a three-match winless sequence at BD8, one or two alarm bells are starting to ring in that regard for Graham Alexander.

So far this season, City have taken a modest 17 points on home soil, the same total they have managed on the road this far.

In the previous two campaigns, they actually amassed more league points on their travels than they claimed at Valley Parade.

In the here and now, they now face one of Alexander’s former clubs, who were buoyed by a 1-0 victory at Crawley last time out - the first win under the watch of Karl Robinson, who spent a short spell at Leeds United last term.

Alexander said: "The prize is there for us and we know where we have to improve. The challenge is to get our home form up to speed like we have been away.

"It will be a tough game. They’ll have had a boost from Karl going in there.

"Karl is a vastly-experienced manager and knows what he’s doing.

"He’ll have had an idea of exactly what he planned to do as soon as he went into the club. He’ll be a steadying influence.

"They’ve picked up in recent form and will be looking to keep that up. They won last time out and want to follow that up.

"Their game was called off on Friday, so there’s no advantage for either team going into this one."

Despite being widely expected to be among the movers and shakers in the promotion stakes, it’s been a season of toil for the Ammies, who have been looking over their shoulders in the other direction.

Alexander continued: "You look at all the divisions in the EFL and there are teams who you would expect on paper to be doing better.

"That’s what I love about our sport. If it was just decided on the reputation or names of the players, there would be no point in coaching, working hard and trying to get close to being so-called better opposition.

"There’s no divine right for anyone to win. If any club makes that mistake, they’ll be sharply reminded about it."