Bradford City v Doncaster Rovers: Ferguson sets out his goals

And he has called on his players to be “braver” against the Bantams to end both their barren goalscoring spell and 11-game sequence without a win.

Shot shy Rovers have scored just three goals in their last nine games. And Ferguson concedes it is something that needs addressing quickly if his side are to avoid slipping into the relegation zone.

“I’ve got to be clear and decisive about how I want to go forward with the situation we find ourselves in,” said Ferguson.

“I’ve given a clear message to the players about how we’re going to do that.

“First and foremost you have to look at the run we’re on, the run we had before that and also the run before I even came in - and the clear stat is that we haven’t scored enough goals.

“We have to be a little bit braver.

“They have to understand that they have the freedom to go and try and create chances - because that lifts everyone.

“The fans weren’t happy on Tuesday night and I agree with them one hundred per cent. They should not be happy with that sort of performance and we have to do something about it.

“In certain games we’ve not created enough chances. We didn’t win enough second balls against Scunthorpe and when we did we gave it straight back to them, so it’s a combination of reasons why we ended up hardly creating anything.

“That’s a worry, and it’s something we need to address quickly.”

Andy Williams, Nathan Tyson and Lynden Gooch have all failed to find the net in the last nine games, with Gooch yet to score since joining on loan from Sunderland.