Iron boss Graham Alexander has stated that a trip to Valley Parade is one that “all opposition players should relish” ahead of the weekend’s showdown with Bradford City.
United come into the game off the back of a 6-0 triumph at home to Swindon Town, while the Bantams succeeded by one goal to nil when they made the trip to Crewe Alexandra on Easter Monday.“We know that Bradford will have a vociferous crowd behind them on Saturday and we know their qualities,” Alexander told The Iron PlayerHD.
“It will be a great atmosphere and as a visiting player it is a fantastic arena to go and pit your wits.
“It’s a great attraction for them to recruit players. For an opposing team, you want to go out into these atmospheres where it is a bit hostile and very partisan and, as an away player. All players should relish these environments.
“I know Jamie Proctor, who is up front, very well. I signed Jamie for Fleetwood and he went there recently and scored a couple of goals against his former team. We know of James Hanson’s qualities, if he’s involved and he’s been the main man at Bradford for a number of years now.
“They are what I would say are a real team. They are a strong team and there’s no reason why we can’t go there and be on the same level at least.”
Alexander will be looking to capitalise on the confidence and the clinical nature of United’s last match, with six goals netted by five different scorers at Glanford Park on Monday.
“We will be concentrating on ourselves and what we can do,” he continued.
“We want to go into the game making sure we know how to cause them problems, but also be wary that they have threats as well. I will give them the respect that they deserve, but I will be more focused on the performance from my players."
In terms of team news, the Iron’s captain Stephen Dawson missed out on Monday and he is set to be assessed ahead of the trip to Bradford, while Jim O’Brien – who hobbled off on Good Friday against Barnsley – had a scan on Tuesday.
“We’re waiting until Friday to see who can train before naming the team for Saturday,” he added.
“We’ve had a few knocks and we were down to the bare bones at the weekend, so we will see who is available to train before we name the team.
“Jim O’Brien had a scan on Tuesday and I’m waiting to see the outcome of that. We will discover the medical side of things ahead of the game. The medical staff want to go through the fine details of the scan before giving me the news, as you can often jump to conclusions on scans.
“Hopefully for our sake and for Jim’s sake, he will be okay.
“Stephen Dawson had a bit of fluid on his knee from his long-term injury. It’s a case of managing him as best we can. Each week he has to be assessed, even if he is training – that’s just part of the process.
“It was really late he pulled out of Monday’s game, so it can flare up in really quick time, but it can settle down equally as quickly, so hopefully he can be a part of the squad on Saturday.”
See much more from Graham Alexander, Conor Townsend and Paddy Madden on The Iron PlayerHD.
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