BRADFORD CITY AFC

Despite last weekend's welcome victory over Preston North End, Bantams manager Phil Parkinson has acknowledged he still has some welcome selection issues on his hands ahead of Saturday's home match with Gillingham.

Given the impressive nature of the Preston win, it would seem perfectly logical for the City chief simply to stick with the same eleven for the visit of Gillingham to the Coral Windows Stadium.

With the likes of Gary Liddle and James Hanson both starting from the bench at Deepdale, however, Parkinson knows he does the option to make changes for this Saturday should he see fit to do so.

Parkinson said: "Lids (Gary Liddle) and James Hanson will have both benefited from a good week's training.

"Lids needed the week's training, while James has come on again from working with us this entire week.

"He (James Hanson) is a lot more confident with his thigh now. He went through a period where he was being troubled by it and missing a lot of training as a result, but now he's had two full weeks of regular work.

"He's looking a lot better now following the injury and it is good to have that option when it comes to selection.

"I decided not to select either Gary or James last weekend at Preston but they are both definitely pushing for a recall this Saturday."

Mark Yeates - last Saturday's match-winner - had been a slight doubt for the Gillingham fixture after his left shoulder temporarily popped out early into the Preston contest.

The Irishman was back involved in training this Friday, however, and he is expected to keep his place in the team.

Parkinson continued: "He did miss training at the early part of the week but he's been back out there today (Friday). He doesn't want to miss any games, especially the way he has been playing recently."


Gillingham's trip to the Coral Windows Stadium will see Irish defender John Egan play his first match at Valley Parade since breaking his leg while on loan with the Bantams during the club's famous 2012/2013 campaign.

Gills centre half Egan, who was only a couple of weeks into a loan move from Sunderland at the time, broke his leg in two places during a City home match with Plymouth Argyle just over two years ago to the day.

“One thing I’ll never forget though is the way the Bradford fans helped me to bounce back – they sang me off the pitch and it meant a lot to me. I received lots of letters from fans saying `get well soon` and that all helped me and I can’t thank them enough for that.”

Speaking about his return to the Coral Windows Stadium, Egan said: “I was there a couple of years ago, it’s a terrific club with terrific fans and when I was there in League Two they were still getting well above 10,000 each game which is a huge following.

This Saturday's match will also see Gillingham boss Peter Taylor back at Valley Parade for only the second time since leaving his position as City boss back in February 2011. Taylor was City manager for just over a year.