Graham Alexander praised the impact Antoni Sarcevic is having on Bradford’s promotion push.
Sarcevic, who has gone up five times in his career from League Two, scored both goals as the fifth-placed Bantams saw off MK Dons 2-0 at Valley Parade.
It was their ninth straight home win to equal a club record.
Bradford manager Alexander said: “I knew Sarce was a goal threat and had a winning mentality. I managed him 10 years ago at Fleetwood and tactically now he’s a much better footballer.
“I think he impacts on the players around him. I wouldn’t have expected that when he was 21 and we had him before but he’s definitely matured over the years.
“He’s understood the game but he’s always kept that desire, will to win and that goalscoring aspect. He is doing great things for the team but he knows it’s also the whole squad that’s doing it.”
Michael Mellon set up the opener, forcing a mistake in the Dons defence and setting up Sarcevic to slot past keeper Connal Trueman. Sarcevic claimed his second goal on the hour after being played in by Bobby Pointon.
Alexander was delighted with the aggression in his team’s play.
“It’s something we work on every single day, every meeting we analyse and go over it,” he said. “It’s the basis of what we are as a team.
“It’s something the Bradford fans have bought into and want to see and I think they enjoy it. We know when we do get it right, we can hurt teams with the quality we have.
“The two goals were clinically finished and I felt we could have had a couple more.”
It was a fourth defeat in five games for MK Dons, who have won just once since New Year’s Day to slip to 17th place.
Manager Scott Lindsey said: “We have to stick together and dust ourselves down. We’re asking very young players to play against very experienced ones.
“In the back line we are very young. We haven’t got any other defenders that are available at the moment and we’re really threadbare.
“We started really well without threatening them. We looked like we were the team in charge but then we can’t defend a moment well enough for their goal.
“We can’t come to a place like this and be loose or sloppy. We gifted them that first goal but I felt we continued to play well.
“The players kept going and showed a good attitude to stay in the game. But the second goal was poor, another gift in my opinion, and we’re obviously disappointed.
“If we’d have sneaked one, we would have put them under pressure but it wasn’t to be. But I really felt the players showed character and kept in the game.”
