Bradford City's Richie Smallwood plans to use unpleasant pressure to fuel good times

The Bantams host Grimsby Town in a 1pm kick-off set to draw a crowd of around 19,000 to Valley Parade on Saturday.

They will be expectant because the Bantams have set their sights high this season, demanding automatic promotion.

Four consecutive draws mean they are in League Two's play-off places but captain Smallwood is not writing off making good the six-point gap to the top three in the final nine matches.

And rather than fretting about what could go wrong, the former Rotherham United and Hull City midfielder is looking forward to what could go right.

“It is really enjoyable,” said the 32-year-old. “I like this position, personally – vying for promotion.

“At other times in my career, I have been fighting for survival, so it is a refreshing challenge.

“The pressures of achieving goals, like fighting to stay up, is something I can use.

“There is an expectation for us to win every game, and when teams sometimes treat playing us like a cup final, it does become difficult. We have to find a way to win.

“Our ambition is naturally spoken about amongst the players.

“We all know there is no better time to start a convincing run than now, and we play a couple of those teams around us as well.

“We know it is a critical time of the season. We will give it our best shot.

“Things can change really quickly, especially when around eight teams are after seven positions. We have to do our job and try to pick up maximum points."

Bradford's weekend game against Crewe Alexandra was postponed because of the Railwaymen's international call-ups.

But Smallwood can see the positives when facing a team who reached last month's FA Cup quarter-finals.

“We have fresher minds and are looking forward to playing again, and more importantly, getting back to winning ways," he said.

“Grimsby will carry the confidence of their recent cup run but we know we have enough to beat them.”