GARY Liddle can abandon his weather watch and focus on the high pressure of tomorrow’s FA Cup quarter-final.

City’s midfield mainstay was sweating on the Crawley game going ahead to clear his ban for reaching ten bookings in time for Reading’s visit.

So it meant Liddle spent as much time studying the skies on Tuesday evening as the pitch as a much-changed Bantams side got back to winning ways.

He said: “I was very nervous all day on Tuesday, constantly looking at the weather updates on my phone.

“It was a big relief when the pitch inspection was over and the game went ahead. I was glad to see the game start and definitely glad to see it finish.

“I felt powerless. I didn’t see much of the game, as I found myself constantly looking up at the floodlights at the snow swirling round and fearing the worst.

“Thankfully, it finished and we got a nice result on the back of it that set us up for a good week. Crawley saw quite a few changes but the lads who came in produced the goods.”

Despite his wealth of playing experience, this is new territory in the FA Cup for Liddle. The furthest he got in his career before this season was a fourth-round loss with Hartlepool against West Ham – when current Reading chief Steve Clarke was the Hammers’ number two in a 2-0 win at Victoria Park.

Liddle added: “I was lucky enough to play at Anfield for Notts County but that was in the early stages of the Capital One Cup.

“This will be the biggest game I have been involved in and I am looking forward to it. Especially now I am available.

“The biggest derby I had before this season was Hartlepool v Darlington and I thought Leeds was great.

“But this makes it an amazing season. I have loved every minute and feel very lucky to be part of this.

“Hopefully, we can give a good account of ourselves. Like Millwall, Chelsea and Sunderland, we definitely go in as underdogs and we’re hoping to pull off another surprise result.”