Graham Alexander on what Brad Halliday brings to a Bradford City back three

The Bantams have been so depleted there they recently signed Paul Huntington to flesh out their numbers. But when Neill Byrne fell ill in the build-up to Saturday's game at Tranmere Rovers, and with Huntington under the weather at the start of the week, right-back Halliday was drafted into the back three.

His defensive instincts helped Bradford keep their first clean sheet away from home in this season's League Two, and he also added something going forward.

“They’ve got a really mobile front three," noted Bantams manager Alexander, himself a right-back in his playing days.

“That’s probably why we went with Brad and why we brought Lewis (Richards) on.

“We’ve got good players and when we get consistency with how we want to play, the message is going to each individual and they can take it on board.

“We only changed it right at the end to get Corry (Evans) and Hunty on and give us a bit more security and composure for a pressurised 10 minutes.

“Brad’s a great example to the rest that if you train right when you get your opportunity, you play as well as anybody.

“He’s not played there in pre-season or any other games but he understands the game and how we want to play.”

As Sheffield United showed with a style Stuart McCall briefly tried to mimic as Bantams manager, back threes work best when fluid and willing to attack.

“We were encouraging Brad to step into the play," said Alexander. "He wants to bomb forward and I think he was a bit unsure whether we wanted him to.

“Hopefully we get some centre-halves back – or at least keep the ones we’ve got.”