JORDAN Pickford reckons he’ll be shipped off on holiday if his loan club face his parent one in the FA Cup.

The young City keeper could be stuck in the middle if Sunderland win Tuesday’s replay with Fulham to earn the fifth-round trip to Valley Parade.

Pickford is barred from playing in cup games by the Black Cats so he spends those weeks back working in the north-east.

But that could be a tricky situation should the two sides be up against each other on February 15.

Pickford joked: “I don’t know what they will do – they’ll have to send me on holiday!

“The manager’s not said anything about it yet and I’m just staying out of the way.

“Hopefully Sunderland get through their Fulham test first and we’ll go from there.

“It would be a great game here if it is Sunderland. They bring great fans all over the country and we know how good the crowd is at Bradford.

“The place will be buzzing. But I’ll have to sit on the halfway line chilling out and not saying anything.”

Pickford would be eligible should Fulham knock out the Premier League side but he has grown used to sitting out the cup ties as Ben Williams takes his chance.

He admits it was worse last year when an appearance in the Capital One Cup first round while on loan at Burton prevented him playing any part in Sunderland’s route to the final.

Pickford added: “I know I can’t play. I would like to but I know I’m not available so I have to take it on the chin.

“I just go up to Sunderland when there’s a cup game and have a good hard week’s training with the first team there. Obviously it’s a sharp, different type of training and it puts me in good stead when I come back here.

“Bradford would let me train here but I think it’s sometimes good to go back and show Sunderland what I can do.

“I know it’s precautionary for Sunderland (not to allow me to play) because you never know what might happen if somebody got injured.

“Last season it killed me when I played in the first round for Burton Albion. Then we got all the way to Wembley.

“I could have been on the bench that day or even before that against Chelsea and Man United. I could have at least been travelling with them.”

Pickford was at the Stadium of Light for the goalless draw with Fulham while his City team-mates were performing heroics against Chelsea. With seven minutes of added time, the Stamford Bridge game was still going on when Sunderland had finished.

He said: “I went down to the changing room at 2-2 and then somebody shouted Bradford were winning. I couldn’t believe it.

“Then they got the fourth and I’m thinking ‘game over’. It was an amazing result and I was really pleased for the lads.

“I spoke to a couple of them after but they were all on the bus. So I waited until Monday to see them when they came back in and everyone was buzzing.

“But it hasn’t distracted us one bit really. We’ve had a good week to prepare for Colchester today.

“We’ve got game after game in February and March but hopefully this is the start of another good run.”

The fifth-round tie has been confirmed for Sunday, February 15 at 2.30pm. City's rearranged trip to Leyton Orient has also been pushed back 24 hours to the following Wednesday.

Meanwhile, striker Lewis Clarkson has been released.