Bradford City v Stockport County: Bantams manager on where Clarke Oduor is letting himself down

With Jamie Walker and his natural replacement, Alex Pattison, injured for Friday's visit of end-of-year League Two leaders Stockport County, Oduor still has a fight on his hands for a shirt in such a bloated squad, but he pressed his case with a Boxing Day-goal against Morecambe.

The former Leeds United and Barnsley player was a key figure under Mark Hughes but has only started one league game since injury in late September, under caretaker player-manager Kevin McDonald.

Manager Alexander had no qualms telling everyone why.

"It was between a couple of players for that position Jamie's vacated – Manny (Osadebe) and Clarke," he revealed.

"I plumped for Manny. We just needed a bit more width from our midfielders and I thought Clarke would give us that. He hasn't let us down in the couple of games he's played.

"He's just got to learn, I believe, as a young player that his training performances have got to match his match performances and then he'll get more opportunities because he's certainly a really talented player, he's fit and he's got good quality but you have to show that every day."

Oduor came on at half-time on Tuesday and kick-started the comeback which extended the Bantams' unbeaten run to seven games. Maintaining confidence, particularly on the terraces, was important says Alexander.

“The team has built that belief up with the fans over this latest run," he reflected. "They see a team that is committed and they helped massively.

“We gave them a proper performance, a fully committed one. If we could have grabbed a winner, the roof would have come off.”