Bantams seek cure for top scorer Hanson

The 27-year-old striker missed the FA Cup first-round derby win at FC Halifax Town after a recurrence of the injury that kept him out for six games earlier in the season.

City assessed Hanson yesterday at the club’s training ground and Parkinson says today is when a decision has to be made over whether to send away the striker, whose birthday was on Sunday.

He said: “James has got tightness in both thighs. He has gone back to the specialist he saw last year, had a steroid injection – which we had to get clearance from the FA to do – and now we are waiting to see how it is.

“Forty-eight hours is needed before an assessment can be made so we have decided that if, by (today), he is not absolutely full tilt in training, then we are going to send him to St George’s Park for a week of intensive treatment.

“We want James, who is our top scorer, back. Not the one that has been playing the last couple of weeks but the one we had at the start of the season.”

Parkinson has hailed his players for battling through a tough tie at The Shay as the club look to continue to claw back more of the £1m deficit that was budgeted for in the summer.

Money from transfers or a Cup run are, the Bradford hierarchy say, needed to plug the gap with around half of the loss having been covered already from the Capital One Cup triumph over Leeds and Sunday’s win against Halifax.

Parkinson added: “It was a difficult challenge, that is why the TV cameras were there. But, in the end, the quality came through.

“As for the finances, we haven’t done too badly from Cup ties over the past couple of years. This year we have already made quite a lot of money from the Leeds game.

“At Halifax, we have been on the telly again, got more prize money, gate receipts to go through, so I think the tally is building up.”