ANDY Cook will today undergo a double hernia operation – but City are still banking on having him back for Christmas.

The seven-goal top scorer has been out since the end of October with a hamstring injury.

His return time was estimated for the middle to the end of this month and that should not be affected when he goes under the knife for surgery.

Bantams boss Derek Adams said: “He’ll be back in the same timescale.

“The surgeon thinks he will have a quick turnaround and because he’s injured with his hamstring, he’s going to get the double hernia done.

“It’s been causing him a lot of trouble for a period of time.”

The Bantams have failed to win since Cook last played – and scored – against leaders Forest Green on October 30.

“We have had very good opportunities to win games,” added Adams.

“But when you have your top striker this season out it does cause you added problems.

“We’ve got Lee Angol, we’ve got (Theo) Robinson and hopefully (Caolan) Lavery back soon – and Andy will be back for the end of this month.”

Adams has given his squad the weekend off to recover from a hectic month, which included six of the last seven games on the road.

He said: “We haven’t got as big a squad as we had, so we’ve given them a rest for a couple of days.

“We haven’t had a break since the start of pre-season and we’ve been on the road for six out of the last seven games.

“From that point of view, it gives them chance to recharge the batteries, so to speak, and be ready for the busy fixture list as it is in December.”

“We obviously went to Exeter twice, we went to Swindon (before that) and Port Vale, they haven’t been journeys just round the corner and some of them have been Tuesday night fixtures as well.

“It certainly catches up with the players and staff. You don’t get back to the early hours of the morning and you need to get that recovery into the players so you are able to perform.”

Lavery is the closest of the sidelined players to making a return, although he is still hampered by the dead leg that forced him off in the Tranmere defeat.

Adams said: “He hasn’t been on the training park yet. He’s still with the medical team and suffering from his dead leg.”