Bantams captain James Vaughan expecting stern test at Plymouth

The third-placed Bantams have not been in league action since their 2-0 win over Exeter on November 2 after their fixture with Colchester got postponed last weekend due to a number of the hosts players being called up for international duty.

In the meantime, they have suffered two cup exits at Valley Parade, firstly going out of the Leasing.com group stage, thanks to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Rochdale before being beaten by League One Shrewsbury 1-0 in the FA Cup first round replay on Tuesday.

City will start a run at Home Park which will see them play three top-half teams in their next five fixtures as they build up to the usually hectic Christmas period.

Vaughan managed to play the full 90 minutes on that freezing evening against the Shrews, after suffering an ankle injury in the original tie, and will be hoping to add to his tally of five goals in all competitions down in Devon this weekend.

Bradford's top scoring striker believes a victory against the 11th-placed side would put City in the perfect position going into a busy winter period.

The 31-year-old also credits the fans for the amount of support he has received since signing on a three-year deal in the summer.

He said: "It will be tough, we are just going to take it one game at a time.

"There is a lot of games coming up in the next few weeks and we are going to need everyone in the squad to be ready to go.

"We will all be training hard and hoping to get the three points at the end."

Vaughan added: "I think we are doing all right. We have started well and we want to build on that.

"At the end of the Christmas period, we will see what direction we are going in and evaluate from there.

"It (my time at city) has been enjoyable.

"It helps when you are winning games and hopefully we will keep doing that so everyone has a good time.

"It is a great club and they have showed me a lot of support since being here. Hopefully I can work hard and repay that faith."