Bradford City's Paul Huntington shows 'a bit of what are we going to get' after long wait

The former Leeds United centre-back joined the Bantams as a free agent in mid-October, and soon made his debut as a late substitute at Tranmere Rovers. But he had not featured since until Tuesday's appearance in the Football League Trophy dead rubber at home to Rotherham United, which the Millers won 1-0.

Not only did the 37-year-old start, he played the full game.

It was more than just his stamina which impressed manager Graham Alexander, though.

“I made contact to see if he was okay with 15 minutes to go and he gave me the thumbs-up," said Alexander. "He controlled his position and opponent all game.

"That’s a striker (Rotherham's former West Ham United forward Jordan Hugill) who has cost a lot of money over the years and he didn’t give him a sniff all night. His composure and distribution was really good.

"For us, it was a bit of what are we going to get. We have seen bits in training, but not a lot of natural match action, so fair play to him, I thought he was excellent."

It was an important night for Huntington, whose contract expires in January.

Another who furthered his cause was half-time substitute Vadaine Oliver, as the Bantams continue to look for the right strike partner for Andy Cook.

Loaned to Stevenage for the second half of last season, Oliver has only made four starts this season, all in different competitions.

"Vadaine has got to give us that," said Alexander of his performance. "He’s got to be a dominant force for us and to be honest, I didn’t think he was at Fleetwood when I started him two weeks ago.

"I needed to see a bit more from him and he showed that. He was aggressive and I thought he dominated his opponent and had opportunities to score.

"That’s the Vadaine we need and I think there were some strong individual performances and lads who started as well."

Meanwhile, Aden Baldwin and Alex Pattison were back in training on Wednesday, but Saturday’s League Two game at home to Accrington Stanley will come too soon for either.

"Sarc (Antoni Sarcevic) will be another week, we think, before joining in,” said Alexander.

"Ciaran Kelly was out on the grass, Jack Shepherd is still being assessed but feels a lot better, Lewis Richards has an appointment tonight (Wednesday) with a consultant about his shoulder, Callum Kavanagh trained on Monday and Wednesday so there’s no issue there.

"It’s too soon for Aden and Alex and it was only a short session so we’ll see how they respond but there’s no way they’ll be in contention for Saturday. We wouldn’t do that after the time they’ve been out.”