RORY McArdle reckons giant-killing acts make the FA Cup magic – but he won't let City disappear from sight on Sunday.

For the second round running, the Bantams face part-time opposition from the Conference.

Having battled their way past non-League neighbours Halifax last month, City find themselves hot favourites again to see off Dartford at Valley Parade.

McArdle believes the unpredictability of the competition makes it compelling viewing for the fans.

And he insists the home team will be well aware of the potential pitfalls after seeing others come a cropper.

"As you saw in the previous round, there are a lot of teams still in there now who you wouldn't have given a chance," said the Bantams defender.

"There was Worcester winning at Coventry and Warrington beating Exeter; that's the beauty of the FA Cup, as people say. It's good to see – as long as it doesn't happen to you.

"You could almost argue that it's the same as what we did in the League Cup. It happens and that's why everybody looks at games like this. We've just got to make sure we're not the ones on the receiving end."

McArdle suffered an FA Cup upset in the corresponding round in 2008 when he was captain of the Rochdale side beaten 2-0 at Forest Green.

He recalled: "It was absolutely freezing that day. It was a horrible game and afterwards you just wanted to hide away and crawl under a stone.

"But everybody looked at the last round against Halifax as a potential banana skin for us. You could see for the first half an hour they were really up for it and we never got going.

"But once we settled down, the quality was there to see us through. To come from behind like that showed our character."

There is also the huge incentive of making it into Monday night's third-round draw, when teams from the top two divisions come in.

City are red-hot favourites to overcome a Dartford side who Phil Parkinson watched lose 2-0 at Eastleigh on Tuesday – leaving them in the Conference relegation zone.

McArdle said: "This tie ticks a lot of boxes for us and everyone wants to make it into the next draw.

"If we can get through, we'd either take a similar sort of game again or the complete opposite and be picked to play one of the big boys.

"Without being disrespectful to the League Cup, Premier League teams tend to field stronger sides in the FA Cup for whatever reason. It would be great to face one of them again.

"But first we have to focus on Dartford. I'm sure they've generated a few quid out of the cup run, which is good, but we don't want them getting any further."

Parkinson is hoping to have Filipe Morais available to face the Darts after he recovered from injury more quickly than anticipated.

The winger was expected to be sidelined for three weeks after sustaining ligament damage to his right shoulder against Gillingham on November 22.

But Parkinson said: “Morais trained yesterday and could be involved on Sunday, although it’s always subject to there being a reaction as this was his first day of contact.”

Andy Halliday missed training due to a migraine but Parkinson has no other fitness concerns heading into the weekend.

Having watched Dartford for the second time in midweek, the City boss said: “In both games I’ve seen them, the result probably hasn’t been a fair reflection of the way they have played.

“They played really well in the first half and conceded on the stroke of half-time, so Eastleigh gained confidence from that. But Dartford try and play football and they have some good players.”