GARY Bowyer is confident the goals will come again for Eoin Doyle as City head for Colchester.

The onus will be on the Irish striker tonight with top scorer James Vaughan suspended and Clayton Donaldson still on the way back from injury.

Doyle is yet to add to his prolific 23-goal Swindon haul from his two games back with the Bantams.

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But he has Bowyer’s full support as City look to end a run of three months since their last away win.

Bowyer said: “He’s a great lad and has done his job properly since coming back on day one.

“He works hard and looks after himself and he’s carried on in that vein.

“He had that chance on Saturday when he was just offside and then he had the opportunity when Dylan Connolly cut one back for him late on.

“But the more he plays with the lads, especially the newer ones, the better. Dylan wasn’t here with him beforehand so they are just getting used to each other.”

Colchester, three places behind City in eighth, boast a 13-game unbeaten league run. They will leapfrog the visitors with a victory.

Manager John McGreal is the longest-serving in the division after being appointed in May 2016 – and Bowyer believes that stability is the key.

He added: “It just shows where you can take the club when given the time to build.

“You look at Richie Wellens at Swindon, (Matt) Taylor at Exeter, (David) Artell at Crewe, John McGreal, (Mark) Cooper at Forest Green. They have all had that time and it’s no surprise that success follows.

“Obviously with the turmoil that has happened at our club in the last 18 months, we feel we’re just starting to do that.

“We’re in a good position at this moment in time that we’re looking to build on.

“If we could make one or two things happen in this window, that would be fantastic again. But you keep chipping away.

“With the model that Colchester have had, you can see the rewards that brings to them both on the pitch and financially with some of the players they’ve developed and sold on.”

Bowyer wants his own team to get back to their miserly ways. City possessed League Two’s best defensive record but have let that go by conceding four avoidable goals in the last two games.

“We need to tighten up again when you look at the fact we kept five clean sheets in seven prior to the last two games,” said the Bantams chief.

“There was the new situation on Saturday of the back five trying to get used to Luke (McGee). I thought he did well with the saves, especially first half.

“Obviously he’s got to get used to them. There’s more to come from Luke, that’s for sure.

“But the defending is from all of us, from the front all the way through.

“We’ve been difficult to beat but the last four goals we’ve conceded have been soft.

“We spoke with the players and they weren’t happy with the goals. They were preventable.”