STUART McCall hopes City can feed off the buzz of a derby-style clash at Bolton tomorrow – as he expects the travelling army to salute Phil Parkinson.

Around 4,300 fans will fill the away end for the eagerly-awaited first meeting with their former boss.

McCall, who has a couple of knocks to check, is excited by the occasion as City look to build on their unbeaten start – against a side he expects to be challenging for the top two.

The Bantams chief said: "We're up against a really powerful squad with a lot of good players. I would certainly expect Bolton to be in the top six and I think they'll be pushing to bounce straight back to the Championship.

"I've seen a bit of Bolton recently and although they've had a little sticky run, similar to ourselves in terms of not winning, they still have a big threat all over the park.

"These are the games you want to play in. The atmosphere will be great and everyone's looking forward to it.

"There's always that little bit of Yorkshire/Lancashire rivalry with Burnley and Bolton because we're quite near each other.

"I remember the year of the disaster 1985 and we won the Championship at Bolton, me and big Bobby (Campbell) scored. We had unbelievable backing that day of almost 4,000.

"But win, lose or draw, it won't have a bearing on where we want to finish. It's three points in a long season."

McCall believes Parkinson's achievements in nearly five years at the Valley Parade helm will be recognised by the City support, who quickly sold out their ticket allocation.

He said: "I can't influence how supporters are going to behave. But I was up in Scotland watching them as a fan beat Leeds, watching the Arsenal game, Villa, going to Wembley when they played against Swansea, seeing them beat Chelsea.

"I would be really surprised and disappointed if he gets anything other than a really good ovation from the City fans.

"They were in League Two for a long time. I had a go, Peter Taylor had a go, Jacko (Peter Jackson) had a go and then Phil came along and found the recipe to get them out.

"They finished seventh and got a way to win. The (Capital One) cup run set them up for Wembley because they'd been there before and had the momentum.

"If you're a Bradford City supporter over the last 20 years, you had us beating Wolves to go up and you had that win against Liverpool.

"A lot of the memories after that were down to Phil and his staff – if you were at Chelsea, that day will live with you forever.

"For me it's a no-brainer, he should be getting a respectful reception for what he did for the club.

"Fans have their own opinions but I totally understand why he wanted to move on and good luck to him. Bolton are a big club with a good squad and a very good manager.

"If I was a supporter, I would be giving him a clap and then concentrating on the game."

McCall admitted he was blown away by the volume generated by the home crowd in the second half against Bristol Rovers last week. He anticipates another wall of noise to lift the players tomorrow.

"I was talking to someone in Scotland the other day and said I'd never envisaged coming back here as a manager," he said.

"But for that half an hour I really relished the atmosphere and was thinking 'this is what it's about'.

"As a player you want to play at the top places and in the top games. It's the same as a manager.

"In this division, this is one of the top games between two well-supported clubs. Both have had decent starts and are striving to finish as high as we can."