James Hanson is hoping lightning will strike twice to help City see in the new year with a bang at Notts County.

The big striker scored a sumptuous winner on their last visit to Meadow Lane in the Capital One Cup first round 17 months ago – a victory which kicked off an ultimately unforgettable campaign.

The Bantams face League One’s bottom club this afternoon in a very different scenario as they try to correct a slump of only one win since the beginning of October.

Hanson wants to use fond memories against the Magpies to revive their current form – and banish his nine-game goal drought in the bargain.

He said: “It would be nice to put another goal like that in. I’m certainly due one so the same again would be great.

“With the start of the season we had, when we were battering teams at home, even the players were getting optimistic. We were all thinking about how far we could go.

“We’ve had a little bit of a bad patch but hopefully we can come through it and start going once more.

“In a way it’s taken the pressure off us. We’ve had a blip and maybe fans have become a bit more realistic and think a top-half finish would be good.

“We know ourselves if we can put a decent run together and get our confidence going again then anything’s possible. We showed that last season.

“We’ve got some big games in January, starting with this one, so we’re all looking forward to giving it a real push for the second half of the season.”

Hanson returned to lead the line in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Swindon after missing the previous two games with calf trouble. He also went down with a stomach bug over Christmas.

With Nahki Wells out with a hamstring injury, the striker negotiated the full game despite having only one training session beforehand.

He added: “It has probably done me a little bit of good in a way.

“This season is not as hectic as last year when it was Saturday, Tuesday every week. I don’t feel burnt out or anything like that but sometimes it’s nice to have a little break.

“It felt great to get back on the pitch. I thought I would have been tired but the momentum kept me going.

“And I could have had a goal – I was just an inch away from reaching Olly’s (McBurnie) cross. If only I was a little bit taller!

“But I kept going and I’m really looking forward to Notts County and hopefully getting this win we need.”

Hanson felt City let victory slip through their grasp at the weekend. It took a moment of individual brilliance from Swindon’s Alex Pritchard to cancel out Rory McArdle’s first-half header – but the centre forward thought his side should have been a bit more canny to prevent the chance developing.

Hanson said: “Sunday was definitely a case of two points dropped.

“He (Pritchard) is a very good player to be fair but he has run 30 seconds with the ball. Maybe someone should have taken a yellow card for the team and brought him down.

“It was a great finish but we’re just disappointed with how we conceded.

“Overall I thought we did enough to win the game. It’s just little bits of quality at the end letting us down.

“It was such a good year and we wanted to sign off 2013 with a win. We’re disappointed we couldn’t see it through and keep pressure on the play-off teams.

“But it was an improvement on the Rotherham game. They were different class second half and we didn’t give the crowd anything to shout about.

“At least this time we played a lot better and the fans got right behind us.

“I thought there was only going to be one winner at the end. Unfortunately it didn’t happen but we’re desperate to put that right now at Notts County.”