BRADFORD CITY AFC

Bantams boss Phil Parkinson believes City should be looking forward to the opportunity to pits their wits against high-flying Wolves on their own patch this Saturday.

The Bantams make the trip to Wolves' impressive Molineux venue on Saturday to take on arguably the biggest and strongest outfit in the whole of Sky Bet League 1.

Molineux, of course, will hold a lot of special memories for Bantams followers as it is the stadium where City famously secured promotion to the Premiership for the first time back in 1999.

While there isn't quite the same at stake for this weekend's league encounter, Parkinson sees no reason why his players shouldn't be excited at the prospect of performing on such a grand stage.

Parkinson said: "We'll be going to a big stadium, probably one of the best in the division, and we'll be coming up against team doing well this season.

"We must remember, however, that we had a tight game against them first time around and Molineux is a venue our players should enjoy playing in.

"Wolves were a Premier League side a few seasons ago so it will be a good place for our fans and players to go and enjoy. We'll only enjoy it though, of course, if we put on a good performance.

"When we were in League 2, teams used to come to Valley Parade and look at it as a big stage and raise their game. That is what we have to do ourselves at Wolves.

"We have to relish that we are playing Wolves, a side who, as we say, were in the Premiership a few years ago, and we are now on the same stage as them.

"We can certainly compete with them, I have no doubt about that."

Parkinson's men head to third-placed Wolves at the weekend after picking up a battling point in midweek against another promotion hopeful, Preston North End.

City's starting eleven for Tuesday's home draw against Preston featured a number of new and returning faces in it.

Andrew Davies made his first appearance in nearly four months in the Preston fixture after a serious knee injury, while the likes of recent signings Adam Reach and Aaron Mclean started despite a lack of recent first-team games.

Given the trio's lack of regular football over the last few weeks then, plus a couple of minor doubts within his squad, Parkinson admits that he may think about the possibility of making some alterations for the trip to Molineux.

Parkinson said: "We have to look at everyone really, Andrew (Davies) included, because it was a big ask of him on Tuesday to make the full match distance. As I've always said, we have to make sure we protect him and make sure he is fine for the games to come.

"The lack of football for some of our lads has to come into our reckoning.

"Today (Thursday) has been a bit of a rest day for the lads who featured on Tuesday to try and give them as much of a chance as possible of being fresh for Saturday."