PHIL Parkinson says City will probably honour their pre-season friendly at Morecambe despite being drawn against the League Two outfit in the Capital One Cup.

Yesterday’s first-round draw handed Parkinson's men a trip to the Globe Arena in the week commencing August 11.

But the Bantams are already scheduled to play Jim Bentley’s side on Saturday, August 2 in their final pre-season fixture.

That could yet lead to City seeking alternative opposition but Parkinson said: “My thoughts are that we will probably keep the friendly as it is.

“It’s not ideal but you can’t help these things. I’ll speak to Jim Bentley about it but at this stage of pre-season we might not be able to get another game on that Saturday.”

Morecambe have made steady progress in recent seasons and Parkinson added: “The next stage for them is getting into the play-offs again.

“They got in the play-offs and lost to Dagenham in 2010, so getting there again will be their aim this coming season.

“Jim has done a good job there and we’ll look forward to playing them. It would be nice to have another League Cup run because it gave us a massive boost in the league when we got promoted two seasons ago.”

Meanwhile, Parkinson paid tribute to Carl McHugh following his move to Plymouth on a free transfer.

The 21-year-old defender made 44 appearances in two seasons for the Bantams after joining the club in August 2012.

Parkinson said: “I had a couple of chats with Carl over the summer and we both agreed it was probably the right time for him to go and push for a starting place elsewhere.

“He has done well for us and is a good player but he needs to nail down a regular place because you can only be a squad player for so long.

“While we never ruled out the possibility of keeping him, if moving means he will play regular first-team football then it’s probably the right move for him.

“We wish him all the best and he will do well for Plymouth.”

Goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin, defender James Meredith and winger Raffaele De Vita are all out contract and their futures remain undecided.

Parkinson added: “I’ve invited De Vita back to do pre-season with us.

“My concern with Raff is that obviously he had a hip problem from Christmas onwards and, even when he was playing towards the end of the season, he was never comfortable.

“I had a chat with him and said he needs to make sure his hip is right first so he can do a few weeks of pre-season with us – but he might well have moved on by then anyway.

“Mez is in Australia at the moment and Jon is also on holiday, but we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Leeds United are expected to unveil former Forest Green boss Dave Hockaday as their new manager today with ex-City assistant manager Junior Lewis as his No2.