City aim to prevent Johnson painting a double

The 34-year-old Barnsley manager was in charge of Oldham Athletic last term as the Bantams slipped to a 1-0 defeat.

As was the case with that tie against Johnson’s Latics, Bradford go into tonight’s second round derby fresh from a victory at Rochdale but Phil Parkinson wants the result to be very different this time around.

“For many teams in the lower divisions, this competition is the only chance to get to Wembley,” said Parkinson, who despite being at Valley Parade for four years will tonight take charge of his first home tie in the Trophy.

“We were fortunate to get there in the Capital One Cup but you can’t devalue this competition. It is a competition in the early rounds where your attitude and application have to be right and then it can quickly gather momentum and importance.”

Bradford will hand a debut to former Manchester City youngster Greg Leigh in the absence of Reece Burke, Lee Evans and James Meredith, who are all on international duty.

Barnsley, meanwhile, are determined to bounce back from the last-gasp weekend defeat at Doncaster Rovers.

Johnson, who left Oldham for Oakwell earlier this year, said: We want to do well in it. We are a big club in this division and it would be amazing to give the fans a trip to Wembley. We may rest one or two, as Bradford will do as well, but generally we will have a pretty strong side.

“Winning games breeds confidence and in the fans and throughout the club. This is an opportunity to get that winning mindset back for the Saturday league game.”

The crowd at Valley Parade will be way down on the numbers that usually watch City in League One and Parkinson added: “I haven’t had a home tie in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy so it is difficult to guess how many fans will come along.”

Last six games: Bradford City WDDLLW, Barnsley WLWDWL.

Referee: T Kettle (Rutland).

Last time: Bradford City 1 Barnsley 0; April 25, 2015; League One.