Grimsby Town v Bradford City: Graham Alexander makes pledge as Bantams return to favoured destination

On nine visits to Blundell Park since 2000 - where Grimsby Town reside in the place next door - the Bantams boast an unbeaten sequence in all competitions and they have lost just once at the Mariners’ home in 14 games since 1985.In this latest excursion, City face hosts who are in no mood for sun, sea and sand by the coast this Bank Holiday Monday, with the Mariners anxiously looking over their shoulders and still having work to do to retain their Football League status.

Second-from-bottom Sutton United’s win at Salford City on Good Friday cut the gap between them and Grimsby to three points, although David Artell’s side do have a game in hand.

For the hosts, it’s about points and substance over style all day long today. While City have their own reasons to ‘scrap’ for points, they don’t plan to change their approach and be drawn into a fight either.

Manager Graham Alexander, whose side ended a grim four-match losing run with a relieving victory over Tranmere Rovers in the first ‘leg’ of Easter, said: "No, because we need to be scrapping for every point.

"I don’t see a difference when we go into games, whether it’s top of the league or the bottom.

"The challenge is us. We’re not playing at a consistent level to say, ‘right, against these we do this’.

"We have to get our best game going and do it consistently well. We haven’t managed to do that.

"That’s what we have to try and do, get a consistency about our best levels, understand where it comes from and keep reproducing it.

"If we do that, then we can maybe think about where teams are in the league. For me, we have to focus on getting our best game."

City are assessing top-scorer Andy Cook (knee) ahead of today's visit to one of his former clubs after he missed out on Friday.

Midfielder Kevin McDonald, whose training was restricted last week, is also being monitored ahead of a potential return to action today.

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