'˜We still have a chance,' says Bradford City star Nicky Law

NICKY LAW has never known anything like the run that continues to unravel Bradford City's season.
Nicky Law: Worst run of career.  Picture: Bruce RollinsonNicky Law: Worst run of career.  Picture: Bruce Rollinson
Nicky Law: Worst run of career. Picture: Bruce Rollinson

Ten games, eight defeats and just two points mean a year that started amid huge optimism at Valley Parade has gone horribly sour.

The play-offs, seemingly nailed on after the Bantams had kicked off 2018 with a win at Fleetwood Town, increasingly look to be a pipedream for a team that has simply forgotten how to win.

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Law, like most at the League One club, is at a loss to explain just where it all has gone so wrong.

“This is a terrible run and the worst I have been on in my career,” the 29-year-old midfield player told The Yorkshire Post.

“We just can’t get that first win. It is just not happening. Compared to the previous 18 months, it is such a contrast. The complete opposite end of the scale and things are really difficult.

“Football is all about confidence and, unfortunately, we have no confidence right now. I have been out since January but I could sense once we were behind to Doncaster (in Monday’s 2-0 defeat) that there was a lack of belief about us getting back into the game.”

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City certainly looked like a side totally bereft of confidence and belief in a defeat that has left Simon Grayson’s men seven points adrift of the top six, albeit with a game in hand.

Considering the Bantams were eight points clear of the chasing pack following that New Year’s Day win at Fleetwood, the Valley Parade club’s collapse has been as spectacular as it has unexpected.

Stuart McCall paid the price for the initial slump but Simon Grayson, a League One specialist with four promotions to his name, has been unable to arrest the slide.

“The only way to turn that round is hard work,” added Law, McCall’s first signing when he returned to Valley Parade during the summer of 2016.

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“I know that is boring and the fans are probably fed up of hearing the same thing. But we have to go again on Saturday (at home to Gillingham) and show some fight.

“Our pitch obviously isn’t for good football so we have to do more of what the manager is asking us to do – and get better at it.

“For 18 months, it has been good football but, then, all of a sudden as we try to change our tactics, we are struggling.

“Everyone is working hard in training. We are missing a few players, which is never easy. We are light in certain areas.

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“But there is no excuse. It is a time to roll up our sleeves and give everything that we have got.”

Victory over the Gills would, of course, at least lift some of the gloom that has descended on Valley Parade in recent weeks.

“The change of manager was difficult,” added Law, one of several players out of contract this summer.

“Not just for me but all the players. I think everyone knows how popular the old manager was.

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“But we have a new manager in now and we have to show more fight. At this time of year, that is all you can do. Let’s hope we can get that first goal on Saturday and turn our season around.

“There is still 30 points to play for. We still have a chance, which we probably don’t deserve if I am honest. But it is still a chance.”