PHIL Parkinson braced himself for a potential pivotal January for City and declared: Let’s not waste our season so far.

The Bantams put their nine-game unbeaten run on the line for the first time in 2015 tomorrow with an FA Cup third-round trip to Millwall.

It also coincides with the opening of the transfer window in what promises to be a month of big decisions for the club.

City hit the new year in high spirits with a play-off spot to protect. They head to a Lions side languishing in the bottom three of the Championship with a swagger in their step.

But there are issues to be resolved in the coming weeks if they are to maintain that momentum in the second half of the season.

Parkinson concedes there is plenty “up in the air” but has no problem with that.

He said: “I think a lot of clubs will be like that. We’re no different.

“I had a meeting with (joint-chairman) Julian (Rhodes) before training the other morning to go through everything.

“We are both determined to maintain what we’ve got, if not improve it.

“But we’ve got to do it within certain financial constraints. It’s as simple as that.

“We know we’ve got a decent balance in the squad and some good options.

“When we’ve had results over the last few years, it’s when we’ve had options off the bench and the squad’s had a decent feel to it. We need to keep it that way.”

There are concerns over whether Filipe Morais, who is being watched by Bolton, will sign a new deal when his expires this weekend. City are also pushing Huddersfield to allow them to extend Jon Stead’s stay.

And top earner Aaron Mclean is scheduled to return from Peterborough at the end of the month.

Parkinson, who has dismissed a link with Inverness striker Billy McKay, is monitoring his own potential targets.

He said: “There are no awards for doing well at this stage and we’ve got to keep improving.

“I always say teams will improve in January and we’ve got to make sure we improve the individuals and the framework of the team we’ve got.

“We want to make sure our squad is as strong as possible within the money we’ve got to spend.”