Brian Tinnion played more than 150 times for City in four years at Valley Parade.

But the Bristol City player-boss does not anticipate a rousing reception tomorrow.

"It was a long time ago," said Tinnion, who left West Yorkshire for the West Country in 1993. "I'm not sure the Bradford fans will remember me.

"I don't know too many people there now but Colin Todd was a coach for a while at that time. I will look forward to seeing Colin again but hopefully we will be sitting down after the game, chatting about a Bristol City victory."

The visitors have started to justify the pre-season hype - and taken the early heat off their new manager - with three straight wins, including last week's 5-0 thumping of Stockport. They also possess League One's hottest striker Leroy Lita, who has struck six times.

And the Bantams, who have lost the last three at home, will have to do without suspended duo Lee Crooks and Dean Windass.

But midfielder Tom Kearney sees it as the ideal platform to rebuild after the harsh loss at Wrexham.

Kearney, likely to partner Steve Schumacher in the City engine room, said: "It's a good game for us to hopefully get back to winning ways. The pressure won't be on us as much because they are a good side and there should be a big atmosphere, which will help. It's a blow to have players suspended but I played with Steve against Chesterfield and we did quite well. So I know we can do the job if selected.

"There's not a great panic at this stage of the season if you lose a couple of games, though it would be nice to pick up things that we deserve. We were sick to get beaten at Wrexham but if we keep playing like that then hopefully things will turn."

The Bantams go into tomorrow's clash having lost their last three at home. But Todd is not worried about a repeat of last term when City crashed 14 times in front of their own fans.

He said: "There is no fear factor. We may have lost games but we haven't been too bad - I'd be more disappointed if we'd been absolutely horrendous but that's not been the case at all.

"This is a great game to show what we are made of. There are special ingredients about it and that's better than playing a team down at the bottom.

"Neutrals will see only one winner and we are certainly the underdogs. But there is no reason why we cannot upset them.

"This is the type of game we can really look forward to against a team on a roll. People will be looking at the result so let's give them one that shows we're back on the road again."

Todd will throw in loan signing Neil Roberts up front. The Wigan striker was due to sign for a month today.