Graham Alexander has preferred Ciaran Kelly for the more physical battles against Stevenage and Lincoln this week – and felt the Irishman delivered his best display of the season on Tuesday.
McIntyre, on a season-long loan from Portsmouth, found himself on the bench having started the previous three league games.
He stopped Alexander for a chat after training yesterday for an explanation about his current absence – something that earned the approval of the Bantams boss.
“I didn’t have to speak to Tom,” said Alexander. “Tom came and spoke to me after training to ask me the question.
“Sometimes I’ll leave it with a player just to find out about them, certainly young players and new ones.
“I want to know how much they care about playing. It just gives me a picture.
“I gave him some direct feedback about his previous game and then I just gave him the information about how we’ve been managing this squad since February and March, keeping everyone involved and playing and fit so we can maintain our numbers, which he understood.
“But I also gave him a bit of tactical stuff that he has to commit to what we do. I’ve said loads of times about how we do things slightly differently, certainly out of possession, and it’s just breaking down habits from other clubs and bringing them to us.
“Tom’s a really good lad but he’s a competitor. I’m glad he came to speak to me. “That gives me more information that he wants to be in the team and he will take forward the information I’ve given back.”
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