Bradford City's bid to sign Dean Windass is back on after Oxford contacted the Bantams about reviving the deal earlier today.

Paul Jewell had a £1 million bid rejected for the former Hull and Aberdeen striker earlier this week by the cash-strapped First Division strugglers.

However chairman Geoffrey Richmond has revealed that a go-between was in touch with City on behalf of Oxford late this morning.

The City chief would not reveal if the club's bid had been increased although he denied speculation that striker Gordon Watson would be moving to the Manor Ground as part of any deal.

He said: "The deal is not dead although Dean Windass will be playing for Oxford at QPR tonight.

"Negotiations are continuing after an intermediary contacted us on their behalf. I cannot say any more although I will say there is no truth in the Gordon Watson link."

Meanwhile, Paul Jewell believes his City side will tonight have to outfight a buoyant set of Barnsley players all determined to earn a place in the starting line-up to face Spurs in an FA Cup quarter-final.

The Bantams travel to Oakwell for the Yorkshire derby knowing that victory would put them back into second place in the First Division after Ipswich leap-frogged them in the table with a 3-2 win voer Watford last night.

The Tykes face George Graham's Spurs side on Saturday and Jewell believes that could be a motivating factor for the Barnsley team.

He said: "At the end of the day, it is not what Barnsley do tonight, but what we do that matters. People keep saying that Barnsley have one eye on the FA Cup and will be distracted, but I think it can work the other way.

"If I was a Barnsley player and had my chance against Bradford with a big cup game a few days later, I would be trying as hard as I could to make an impression. But if our lads give 100 per cent effort then I can't ask for any more."

City will be without a trio of injured players with Peter Beagrie (calf), Ashley Westwood (thigh) and Stephen Wright (thigh) all ruled out.

Jamie Lawrence is also a major doubt due to the back injury which forced him out of the West Brom game after just 18 minutes.

John Dreyer will also be hoping to earn a place alongside Darren Moore at the heart of the defence while Jewell has added teenage defender Mark Bower to the squad for the trip.

City: Walsh, O'Brien, Jacobs, Todd, Moore, Dreyer, Bower, Lawrence, McCall, Whalley, Ramage, Rankin, Watson, Blake, Mills.

Barnsley: T Bullock, Eaden, De Zeuuw, Blackmore, Jones, Morgan, Richardson, Tinkler, Hignett, Sheron, Dyer, M Bullock, Van der Laan, Goodman, M Bullock.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.