GUISELEY 0 CITY 2

THE voice piped up among the pre-match conversation in a packed main stand.

“They look like a proper Bradford City again,” was one fan’s verdict to the approval of those sat around him.

He was referring to the popular return to stripes after the “fighting” kit of last season ordained by Edin Rahic.

But equally, the public proclamation could have been referring to the squad that Gary Bowyer has been busy assembling for the upcoming redemption mission in League Two.

It feels like a line has been drawn through the mismanagement and mishaps of the past 18 months.

Those supporters who filled up Nethermoor as they always do can sense that they have their got their club back.

Pre-season results are meaningless, of course, but the whole vibe around the players has clearly changed. There is a fresh optimism where before it appeared just hang-dog despondency.

Six of the 10 new arrivals were on display as 22 City players saw duty – 23 if you count young keeper George Sykes-Kenworthy, who played the first half in Guiseley’s goal with a view to a possible loan.

The Bantam ranks included three trialists, with Chay Tilt and Mason Fawns combining for the second which sealed a straightforward win.

Former Huddersfield midfielder Regan Booty, who faced City in the FA Cup last year for Aldershot, had featured in the first-half side and used the ball well.

Adam Henley looked a willing runner from right back and with Jackson Longridge among those sitting it out, there was a rare glimpse of Joe Riley on the left.

The defender came in from the deep freeze to deliver a positive display and should have had the first goal. A one-two with Sean Scannell opened up Guiseley’s defence but Riley’s shot was a yard wide.

Scannell carried on where he left off at the end of last season. After his “what might have been” cameos before the inevitable relegation, all eyes will be on the winger this time.

He whetted the appetite with a couple of dangerous darts and produced a peach of a cross for Clayton Donaldson to nod City ahead on 31 minutes.

Donaldson’s eyes lit up at the inviting set-up which he buried with a downward header – a combination City fans would love to see repeated regularly in the coming months.

The local lad had been paired with Eoin Doyle, who skied his best chance of getting on the scoresheet.

The Irishman’s future remains unclear with the arrival of Donaldson and James Vaughan.

Swindon’s name was mentioned early on as a possible suitor and there has been interest from Blackpool, although the change of manager there with the return of former Bantams boss Simon Grayson could alter that.

Guiseley nearly levelled from a corner within three minutes of Donaldson’s breakthrough but Richard O’Donnell managed to claw Hamza Bencherif’s flick away from the top corner.

O’Donnell, another one under the spotlight with a sceptical audience, then denied Kaine Felix with a regulation save that was more for the cameras.

Predictably, it was all change during half-time with O’Donnell making way for Sam Hornby.

But it was two of the unfamiliar faces at the heart of City’s second 10 minutes in.

Omari Patrick’s drilled cross was intended for Vaughan but popped loose to Tilt before Altrincham midfielder Fawns grabbed the glory from 10 yards.

Jordan Gibson was keen to get on the ball at every opportunity and shoot on sight, one 30-yarder so nearly deceiving Guiseley’s trialist keeper.

And the hunger in Vaughan was equally encouraging to see.

He threw his head back in anguish at Omari Patrick’s heavy touch after putting a cushioned header in his path and then berated himself for a hastily-hit half chance flying high and over.

Vaughan twice went close as his desire to get off the mark was clear.

Neat individual work opened up space for a cross-shot past one post before a stooping header from Patrick’s cross glanced by the other.

The imposing figure of Ben Richards-Everton and Kelvin Mellor kept it tight at the other end, with Hornby doing his bit with two saves to keep out Paul Clayton.

Good signs generally for a sun-baked crowd and an early marker of a club aiming to rediscover their identity.

Guiseley: Trialist, Cantrill, Trialist, Spencer, Bencherif, Garner, Felix, Trialist, Martin, Trialist, Johnson.

City (first half): O’Donnell, Henley, A O’Connor, French, Riley, Anderson, Booty, Colville, Donaldson, Doyle, Scannell.

City (second half): Hornby, Devine, Mellor, Richards-Everton, Staunton, Fawns, Akpan, Gibson, Tilt, Vaughan, Patrick.