Kevin McDonald says Bantams can win over Valley Parade crowd

The experienced midfielder knows the team owe the home fans a big performance against Crewe to make up for Morecambe.

Supporters will be demanding a response as much as boss Mark Hughes – and McDonald expects them to make the players well aware if standards slip again.

“You could probably sense that from the first game,” he said. “Harry made a mistake against Colchester and straight away (you could hear) the fans.

“They’ve paid to come and they are allowed their opinion. They deserve to see what they want to – good, attacking football and winning games.

“It’s up to us to perform that. But for me, there’s no better place.

“I’d rather be playing at home than away and having 18,000 fans behind you.

“Will it be edgy at the start? Probably, because we’ve just got beaten 3-0. But they’ve got a right to be like that.

“They’ve got a right to expect us to go and perform and be at it.

“You’ve seen before that when they get behind us it’s a special place. That’s on us to bring that out.”

Hughes has talked up McDonald’s composure and control in possession and may pitch him in for a first start.

The Scot has come off the bench for the last three games and played the full second half at Morecambe.

“I’ve been managed well by the staff,” he added.

“The easy option if someone’s had a little bit of a knock is to put you in, bang, for 90 minutes and then anything can happen. That’s not just me at 34 but anyone.

“I feel fine. Once called upon, I will be all right.”

Starting or not, McDonald insists they must click from the off against a Crewe side who have seen the goals flow at both ends in the early weeks.

“We know the onus is on us to take the game to them, regardless of who it is we’re playing, Crewe, Gillingham, whoever.

“That’s when teams who aren’t mentally able to play in front of that crowd, they will struggle.

“We need to create that atmosphere on and off the pitch between us and the crowd.

“Once we do that and take control, I’ve no doubt at all that the team will start going on a run and winning games.”

Gillingham are the only team in League Two with a perfect four-win record – but they are already eight points ahead of the Bantams. McDonald admits they cannot allow that gap to get any bigger at such an early stage.

“I always feel teams take a bit of time to settle down.

“But that’s when if you’re like Gillingham and get in your stride straight away, you set yourself up in a great position. They can afford to lose a game.

“We need to go and win games now. We need to win this week, next week and continue that run to catch people.

“Nobody at Bradford wants to be sat around mid-table. That’s a fact for anyone.

“We want to be at the top end of the league and it’s on us to do that.”