GRAHAM Alexander felt City did all they could to pull off a last-day swoop on the play-offs.

A 4-1 win over Newport at Valley Parade meant they finished the season with five successive victories.

But they finished a point outside the top seven after Crawley beat Grimsby.

Alexander said: “We did our part today but not over the course of the season. But all we could do was win our game and see what fate decided.

“It’s gone against us but I’m really pleased with how the players approached the game and the supporters who came in brilliant numbers.

“Everyone connected with Bradford City handled themselves really well.

“I wanted the players to understand it was a test and there was going to be a lot of pressure on us to basically chase three games in one.

“We had to focus on just winning ours and I think they did that. Some of the football we played was superb.”

City broke the deadlock with two quickfire goals just before half-time from Calum Kavanagh and Andy Cook.

Bobby Pointon added a third before Jamie Walker rounded off the scoring in added time after Newport had pulled one back.

“We were really courageous on the ball in possession and tried to score many more goals,” added Alexander.

“It was frustrating at 0-0 for quite a while and they had a couple of chances on the counter-attack.

“The crowd got a little bit restless but we kept our composure. Once we scored that first goal it was great to see and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“For our younger players, they will have learned a lot about how to manage occasions like that.

“The crowd are so desperate for a result and we have to handle that pressure next year. We’ve shown great signs today.”

The Bantams boss claimed he was unaware of what was happening elsewhere – and tried to make sure it was the same for the players.

“I didn’t know the other scores until about the 70th minute. I’m hoping the players didn’t know at half-time because I was just focusing on us getting the result.

“We didn’t mention anything at half-time other than making sure we won the second half because that would be good enough to win the game.

“It was great when we scored the third and then there was a flat period because I think the crowd was aware of what was going on.

“It got into our players a little bit and we conceded a goal. We got the message on that we had to keep going and it delighted me at the end when we scored the fourth.

“Richie (Smallwood) came out of his shape and pressed their opposite midfield player. He won the tackle and set up the goal.

“That intensity has to be there for us in every aspect of how we work day-to-day.”

The latest win on an emotional day remembering the victims of the Valley Parade fire means City collected 19 points from a possible 21 since last month’s four-game losing streak.

Alexander said: “The players deserved that result. After the Harrogate game, if you’d have given us six wins out of seven I would have snapped your hand off.

“I’ve seen teams go the other way and completely dive-bomb but we didn’t do that. We’ve showed we’ve got good characters and personality here but just need to add that consistency.”