Bradford are prepared to play waiting game

The pair meet in league and cup action at Valley Parade twice in the space of three weeks and while the high-flying Bantams are likely to be strong favourites for both, McCall is wary of anyone discounting the credentials of the rock-bottom Pilgrims.

Despite their status, Plymouth are showing signs of picking up after a fraught start to the season and head north on the back of a five-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

McCall will make a late call over who to play in goal, with Colin Doyle in the Republic of Ireland squad for the World Cup play-off with Denmark, although it remains to be seen if he will be in their match-day plans.

“Plymouth are unbeaten in five and do not concede many goals away from home,” said McCall. “They have been defending really well and teams have been finding it hard to get opportunities to score goals against them.

“I would imagine they will come with the same mindset. We have been doing some work in training in the last couple of days with that in mind against a really solid block of defence.

“It might be a case of having to be patient.

“Wigan had to wait until the 84th minute and then got a penalty, which they scored against them (recently).

“They are certainly determined and now a more confident side, even though they are still bottom of the table.”

As a result, McCall also urged home supporters not to expect a straightforward afternoon for the third-placed Bantams against Plymouth, who will be without the services of talismanic midfielder Graham Carey,.

“The crowd might have to be patient too,” he added. “I would like to think we will have the majority of the attacking play, but we have just got to keep at it.

“There was the game here against Swindon last year when we scored two in the last few minutes against another struggling side.

“Again, we have got to be prepared for that and be bright and inventive. When you are playing against a side who are strong defensively, you have to be creative and think outside the box and not be slow.”