The ex-Premier League outfit have only won three of their first 10 contests in the EFL’s basement division this term and were booed off following a 3-1 home defeat to Walsall.

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Bantams fans also joined in a chorus of “You’re Getting Sacked in the Morning” with mocking Saddlers fans, who saw their team win on the road for only the second time in 19 fixtures.

Ex-Walsall striker Andy Cook gave the hosts the lead from the penalty spot but Liam Gordon and Aramide Oteh had turned the tables by half-time before Freddie Draper completed the scoring on 56 minutes.

An hour-long inquest was staged in the home dressing room after the final whistle and a loss at second-bottom Tranmere on Tuesday night would almost certainly spell the end of Hughes’ 20-month tenure at Valley Parade.

Centre-back Sam Stubbs argued, however, that it was the players who should have shouldered 100 per cent of the responsibility for the woeful Walsall display, adding that he did not blame the fans for venting their fury.

The former Exeter defender said: “The supporters should be frustrated, because there’s a standard they want to see and we have to take responsibility because every player needs to improve by 10 per cent after that.

“There’s no excuses and the performance was 100 per cent down to the players.”

Oteh netted his second Saddlers goal since a summer move from Crawley, having previously scored four times during a loan spell with Bradford back in 2019/20.

The 25-year-old attacker benefited from a spot of fortune when the ball ricocheted off him after striking home midfielder Kevin McDonald following a Ross Tierney corner.

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But Oteh argued that his goal owed more to set-piece practice than luck.

He said: “It was just instinctive really.

“We’d been working all week on corners and a similar situation happened then as well.”