MARK Hughes is confident there will be a big improvement in front of goal from City this season.

Sharpening up the attacking options was one of the priorities for the manager in the summer window.

The Bantams scored 53 in finishing 14th in League Two last season – fewer than any of the teams above them.

They had netted only 48 the previous term – again one of the lowest tallies in the division.

“We want to improve that (goals) column obviously,” said Hughes. “That goes hand in hand with getting good results.

“We’ve got good options as well to come back. Jamie (Walker) will be back after his injury and Abo (Eisa), Manny (Emmanuel Osadebe) we’re obviously going to have to wait a little bit longer for.

“Then there’s Kian (Harratt) as well after his suspension. He’s another different type of attacking player, which is great.

“That’s what we wanted to create. We don’t want people to be comfortable.

“We need to test them and push them to levels that maybe they’ve never been to before.

“Can we get the absolute maximum out of their ability and their impact in games?

“If we do that then we’ll have a successful season. It’s a case of getting the maximum out of everybody.

“There’s going to be fluctuations in terms of form and, touch wood, we don’t lose any more to injuries but that could well happen.

“We’ve just got to keep going and make sure momentum-wise we’re really in a good place.”

Andy Cook and Jake Young both came off the bench to score City’s first goals of the league campaign at Barrow last week.

Hughes feels the strength of the bench in the early games is an indication that there is a lot more depth to the current squad.

He added: “Clearly we don’t want to lose any more guys to injury but the depth is strong.

“You saw the impact of the subs in midweek. I thought it was really good, the likes of Lee Angol, Vadaine (Oliver) and Ryan East coming on to good effect.

“Levi (Sutton) looked a lot more like Levi in his little cameo, a lot of energy which he always gives us.

“The make-up of the bench will naturally change during the course of the season but the options I’ve got are really good.”