Bradford City v Marine: Michael Duff tells Bantams players to avoid being the FA Cup 'story'
'WE need to make sure there isn't a story'.
Michael Duff's message to his Bradford City players is loud and clear ahead of the arrival of the Mariners, with the Merseyside non-leaguers seeking to bolster their proud FA Cup reputation at Valley Parade.
The tie also provides a welcome distraction following a testing season at National League North level thus far.
On Marine, who reached the third round in 2020-21 when they hosted Spurs, Duff said: "They'll be coming for the party no matter what and the players will be motivated. A lot of them have played in the Football League as well.
"So, it's not like there's a team of kids who are all star-struck because it's Bradford City.
"We will be favourites, not getting away from that and we'll be expected to it. It doesn't mean we will.
"So we just need to make sure we do a professional job and there are no headlines and then hopefully our number's in the bag, then people just go: 'all right, yes, I thought that'd happen'.
"That's what we need to make sure - there isn't a story."
City head into the game a week on from a painful derby reverse to Huddersfield Town and Duff, understandably, is now focused on the reaction.
He continued: "We've just been beaten 3-0 by our local rivals and now's the time to show your reaction. It doesn't matter if we're playing Man City or Marine. I'm expecting a reaction from the players.
"The supporters will be expecting a reaction as well. Now's the time to show how disappointed you were - not being disrespectful to Marine.
"It's irrelevant who the opposition is this week, because we need to show that (reaction).
"They've been good in the week. We expect them to look like a Bradford team, like we did in the first half last week."
Adam Phillips and Stephen Humphrys are both back in contention.
The news regarding Phillips is a pleasant surprise, given that he hobbled off in clear pain with a knee issue late on last weekend.
Humphrys has missed the past three matches with a back problem. Josh Neufville is back in full training, but won't feature.