Guiseley 0 Bradford City 4

For the superstitious, as one fan on Twitter pointed out, a City injury overshadowing a 4-0 warm-up win at Nethermoor need not be a bad omen.

After all, the same happened 12 months ago and the season that followed wasn’t too shabby.

But in truth, it was the last thing that Phil Parkinson wanted from day one of City’s pre-season campaign.

Ricky Ravenhill was the victim on the previous occasion, missing the first two months of the campaign as a consequence and ultimately playing catch-up for most of it.

Now Andy Gray faces a similarly uncomfortable predicament. For a player still trying to convince the Valley Parade jury, Saturday’s broken arm could not have been a worse start.

By all accounts, Gray has reported back for pre-season extremely fit and hungry to prove his worth. Aware that he had not pulled up any trees in the first four months of his second coming in City’s attack, he has looked a man on a mission.

That all changed half an hour into his second-half outing at a sweltering Nethermoor.

Looking to control a ball with his back to Guiseley defender Jameel Ible, his left arm appeared to get twisted in the tussle. By the time he crumpled in a heap on the floor, the agony was etched across the striker’s face.

His prolonged spell on the sideline will also throw up the question about whether City need to drum up a replacement. Five strikers become four and that settled squad suddenly springs a little hole.

There were absentees on Saturday. The two we knew about in advance, Andrew Davies and Luke Oliver, were joined by Gary Jones and new boy Mark Yeates, although both were saved as a precaution and should face Athlone tomorrow night.

Those who did feature faced sweltering conditions not seen since Gillingham on the first day of last season. With the forecast of this continued heat wave, who’s to say it won’t be just as sticky when the action kicks off for real at Bristol City on August 3?

Given the conditions, Parkinson was happy with what he witnessed.

“It was difficult to play on but I thought we did some good stuff,” he said. “The first half, in particular, was played at a decent pace.

“You’ve got to remember the first day of season might be as hot as this. So you’ve got to prepare your body for it.

“If you can play 45 minutes in those conditions, it’s not a bad benchmark because it was particularly hot.”

Jason Kennedy, packing the factor 40, got his first outing and showed some neat touches in midfield in that opening half.

There were also four trialists on display, with Jon-Paul McGovern joined by keeper Brian “the Beast” Jensen and the more exotic duo of Raffaele De Vita and Vincent Acapandie. Frenchman Acapandie launched himself on a couple of powerful runs from right back but it was De Vita who really caught the eye – and not just for his shocking pink boots.

A former part of Paolo Di Canio’s Italian connection at Swindon, the right-footer delivered a crowd-pleasing display at left midfield.

He sealed it with the final goal of City’s four, a thumping first-time finish after a cutback by Nahki Wells.

City’s top scorer from last term predictably got his own name on the scoresheet after wrong-footing both Guiseley centre halves as the visitors ran away with it in the closing stages.

The late three-goal blast also included one for Ravenhill, tapping in from close range after Steve Drench failed to hold Garry Thompson’s low cross.

City had played their best stuff before the break, with Nathan Doyle catching the eye. Looking slimmed down, the midfielder orchestrated matters in the middle of the park with several raking angled passes for Kyel Reid.

And one of them led to the first goal as the winger’s cross was met by Alan Connell at the near post with a clever flick across the keeper.

Parkinson made eight changes at the break, Carl McHugh staying on the longest to last 74 minutes. First-year pro Louie Swain played almost as much – with the striker given three different roles, starting at left back.

Youth-team players Niall Heaton and Jack Stockdill got their chance late on and both have travelled to Ireland to help with numbers.

But there was no sign of Scott Brown, which suggests his future could lie elsewhere since the arrival of two more midfielders.

CITY (first half): Jensen, Darby, Nelson, McHugh, Swain, McGovern, Doyle, Kennedy, Reid, Connell, Hanson.

Second half: McLaughlin, Acapandie, McArdle, McHugh (Heaton 74), Meredith, Thompson, Ravenhill, McGovern (Stockdill 65), Swain (De Vita 57), Gray (Swain 79), Wells.