Bradford City v Millwall: Stuart McCall is wary of Lions' threat to Bantams

The Lions are well organised, fiercely competitive and, in Steve Morison and Lee Gregory, they boast one of League One’s most dangerous attacks.

It is why Stuart McCall is expecting the Lions, desperate to drag fourth-placed City back towards the chasing pack, to head north today with a lot more than claiming a draw on their minds.

“It was a decent performance down there when we met earlier in the season and we played some good football,” said the City chief about last September’s 1-1 draw at The Den.

“This was especially the case due to us having a few players missing that day. We only had Matthew Kilgallon and Filipe Morais of the senior lads on the bench with the rest youngsters. Despite that, we put in a really good performance and could have won.

“But this will be a totally different match, and more like a cup tie to me with play going from one end to the other. I just can’t see Millwall coming for a point.

“In Lee Gregory and Steve Morison, they have two excellent strikers at this level. They are a strong team and we will have to be up and at them from the first kick.

“Millwall have played pretty much the same team for a few weeks now so they will be well drilled and familiar with each other. But it is up to us to counter their threat.”

City’s own promotion hopes suffered a setback a week ago with a disappointing 1-0 defeat at struggling Shrewsbury Town.

Far too many players were below par and McCall is adamant there can be no repeat this afternoon against last season’s play-off finalists.

“We put in one of our least effective performances last Saturday and paid the price,” he added. “Winning at Cheltenham (in the Checkatrade Trophy) was a good response but we have to back that up.

“Having Billy (Clarke) back against Cheltenham was a big boost.

“He had been missing for two months (with a calf injury) and that is a long time. We had definitely missed him.

“The great thing was that Billy looked sharp and ready to make an impact for us once again.”

Filipe Morais’s return to training this week means McCall has a full squad to choose from for the first time in months.