The Bantams were stunned by Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Reading, who scored twice in a dramatic finish to turn the result on its head.

A fifth consecutive away defeat was the toughest to take after Alexander’s side appeared to be cruising to victory.

The City boss admitted it felt like when they lost 5-4 in stoppage time at Swindon and the 3-3 draw against Chesterfield towards the end of their promotion campaign.

They picked themselves up from those painful blows to go up with a final-day win over Fleetwood and he is confident they can recover again.

“It’s like that,” said Alexander. “I love what we achieved because we had a big heart and big bxxxs and that’s where we are right now to do it again.

“That’s a horrible hit that we didn’t deserve, but that’s what life is. Sometimes it’s cruel and what defines you is not the action, it’s your reaction.

“I think we’ll be defined by our reaction to the last five minutes.”

Reading’s goals were their only attempts on target as they cut the gap from seventh to fourth-placed City to seven points.

It is another test of character as the Bantams head into a free week before they are back at Valley Parade against Leyton Orient.

Alexander had been delighted with how his side had played for much of the game until that final period.

He added: “It can knock the stuffing out of you and then you see what you really are. I think what we’ll see is what we really are.

“I think we showed that in the last two games. We’ve been excellent in our desire to win games of football – our actual courage and composure was absolutely superb.

“What the players will see from their overall performance was a top team and we’ve got to take great confidence to be in this position at this stage of the season.”

Matt Pennington had blasted City in front with his second goal in successive games and Alexander insisted they should have put the game to bed.

“I think we should have been the lead before that from some of the play we had. It was an unbelievable finish from Panno and honestly, it was well-deserved.

“We were cruising. We didn’t look at any danger in our final third at all. The reality is we should be talking about a fantastic win with a brilliant goal to win it.

“We’re not clinical enough with the positions we get into. That’s something we have to try and improve – it’s just that end product.

“But we have to take it on the chin. That’s all we can do and we stand up, go to the next challenge and take that performance into it – obviously minus a couple of cheap goals.

“We’ve got so much experience that they can all tap into about difficult times and challenges and here we are still competing.” City will check on Aden Baldwin after he suffered a suspected broken nose in an aerial challenge.

Kayden Jackson sees a consultant today over his injured knee and is expected to be missing for a few weeks.