Chesterfield v Bradford City: Graham Alexander says League Two promotion pressure to be enjoyed, not endured

Now, with the first of two potentially defining away games at Chesterfield on Monday, he has to get them thinking the same way about a three-game League Two title sprint.

The Bantams kicked off their Easter by dropping points. It was unusual for them at home, but then they were playing fellow promotion contenders Notts County on Thursday.

It could have cost them their top-three place but turned out rather well, all things considered.

Doncaster Rovers, 3-0 winners at Tranmere Rovers, were the only team in the top 11 not to drop points on Thursday or Friday, leaving Bradford third, two behind leaders Port Vale (the Bantams' goal difference is better by one), one above Walsall, whose goal difference is two better.

It shows teams are feeling the pressure as they chase three automatic promotion spots – now perhaps available to up to six teams – and four play-off places.

It is particularly intense on Bradford, affronted at being stuck in the fourth tier since 2019 despite being a former Premier League club who draw the biggest crowds year on year, and with fairytales to write as the 40th anniversary of the Valley Parade fire comes to the European City of Culture next month.

But Alexander wants his players to enjoy that, just as they have the pressure of ending the club's Valley Parade struggles with easily the division's best home form this season.

“There’s a lot of pressure around professional football and the players at all levels and all clubs but it’s very high here in League Two," he argues.

“It is part of the attraction of coming here so you then can’t shy away from the challenge. This is what you chose.

“Once you reframe it in the players’ minds, they would rather be doing this than being somewhere else with a smaller crowd and nothing to play for. These are the games you want to enjoy because they are the ones you will remember and they definitely make you better.”

Their away form – Bradford sit 14th in that table – is the issue, with their next two matches short trips, but trips nonetheless.

Ninth-placed Chesterfield are three points outside the play-offs in their first season back in the Football League, Saturday's hosts Doncaster a point above Bradford.

The Bantams' last away game saw them concede five goals in a dramatic 5-4 defeat at Swindon Town shaped by Richie Smallwood's first-half red card. The captain sits out the second game of his three-match suspension on Monday.

They have not won away since Michael Mellon's stoppage-time winner at Salford City on March 2, but Alex Pattison insists there cannot be any demons in Derbyshire.

"Our home form's been brilliant all season," says the former Harrogate Town midfielder. "If we were even close to that away we would have won the league by now.

"We've got two away games to turn it around, two games we want to get maximum points from.

"We can't afford (a hangover from Swindon). We can't dwell on games that have been and gone.

"Against Chesterfield, Doncaster and Fleetwood (at home, on the final day of the season) we've just got to give it our all."

Thursday's 1-1 draw with Notts County was predictably tight, but the Spireites are the division’s second-highest scorers this season, and Walsall the only promotion contender whose games have featured more goals than their 115.

So it could be a more open game.

“I don’t really know," says Alexander when asked his thoughts. "Paul Cook is a very good manager, they’ve got good players and have high ambitions for their season as well.

“Paul always produces good teams. We know the challenge we’ll face but I think we’re looking forward to it.

“After the last (away) game, playing for 80-odd minutes with 10 men was frustrating. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable to play in.

“The players approached Thursday in the right way and I thought they enjoyed that game at such high stakes against a good team.”

Whilst Chesterfield may not have Bradford’s consistency, on their day, they too are a good team.

"They were probably one of the better sides we've faced this season when they came to us just before the turn of the year," says Pattison, recalling his side's 2-1 win. "That'll be a tough game, as they all are.

"We've just got to go into it with confidence that we can get the points.

"We go into every game just trying to impose how we play on them and we don't really focus too much on the other team. We just want to go into games focussing on our job knowing nine times out of 10 we'll come out the right side (if they play at their best).

"We go into it with belief. If we play how we can play, we're confident we can beat anyone on our day.”