BRADFORD CITY AFC

Bantams boss Phil Parkinson says he wants his players to use this Sunday's mouth-watering F.A Cup first round tie at FC Halifax Town as an opportunity to kick start their season.

Despite some encouraging performances of late, City have found wins hard to come by since impressively defeating Milton Keynes Dons at stadiummk back in September.

Sunday's game sees Parkinson's men take a break from League 1 football to begin their F.A Cup campaign for the season at the home of their West Yorkshire neighbours.

With a bumper crowd expected at Halifax's Shay Stadium and the BT Sport cameras set to beam the tie out live across the country, City's first competitive fixture with the Shaymen in over sixteen years is eagerly-anticipated by both sets of supporters.

Given everything that comes with City's first round tie then, Parkinson hopes his squad can use this weekend's match as a launch-pad to help reinvigorate their league form.

Parkinson said: "We can't complain about this tie at all in terms of the excitement levels it brings with it.

"It is a great game for us to get our season back up and running again.

"We've had a difficult run of late - there's no denying that - but there is no better place to turn it around than in front of the t.v cameras in the F.A Cup in a local derby.

"That is certainly our aim. We will go there ready for action and fully respecting what Halifax are all about.

"They've had a good start to the season in their division and we do respect what they are all about, but we are going there to make sure we are in the hat for the next round.

"As we know, the t.v cameras will be there and we'll undoubtedly have a large away following with us and we want to use them both as inspiration to get our season going again.

"The F.A Cup always has a special feeling to it for me. It is the biggest domestic cup competition in the world.

"There is always a different feeling to it whenever I've been involved in an F.A Cup tie either as a player or a manager."

Going into Sunday's tie, City are certainly no strangers to big cup matches under Parkinson.

Most of them, certainly during the club's famous run to the Capital One Cup final back in 2013, saw the Bantams going into the tie as second favourites.

That clearly won't be the case this weekend, however, given the two divisions between City and their Vanarama Conference opponents.

With the shoe now on the other foot then, Parkinson says that City's players and staff can draw on memories from their past adventures in cup competitions to get them ready for Sunday.

He added: "First of all, we need to use the experience we've had when we have gone into big cup ties as underdogs.

"If we've been playing a team in a higher division over the years and their attitude or application wasn't quite right on the day, that is when we looked to pounce.

"We have to be wary of that now for Sunday.

"We have to be prepared really well for this tie in terms of our knowledge of how Halifax play, which we will be.

"Halifax are a physical team who like to put teams under pressure. We know the start of the game will be frantic.

"We also have to be fully committed to the game, it we do that, we'll have a good chance of getting through.

"We have to be wary of Halifax's threats and pick a team who can deal with that but we also have to select a side who can look to pass the ball and make chances when we do get possession."