Bradford's Cup hero sweating on permanent contract

The 22-year-old midfielder was the Bantams' hero in Tuesday night's shock Carling Cup win over Nottingham Forest.

Syers, who had signed non-contract terms just a few hours earlier, is now hoping his opportunistic second-half strike as a substitute will be enough to earn a permanent deal at Valley Parade.

City manager Taylor said: "We have said to David that we will make a decision at the end of the week but he certainly hasn't done himself any harm.

"He is full of energy and makes those forward runs all the time. I thought he did well against Nottingham Forest.

"David joined us for pre-season and was unfortunate to turn his ankle in the first friendly. That put him back a couple of weeks.

"So, at the end of last week, I said to him, 'I want to look at you for one more week'. I wanted to see him for 45 minutes against Forest, but obviously he got more with the game going to extra-time."

Syers, who also plays cricket to a decent level in the Bradford League with Farsley, started last season at Farsley Celtic.

However, he moved to fellow Conference North club Harrogate Town as the Leeds club folded amid unsustainable debts.

Taylor added: "We knew he had scored a lot of goals at Harrogate and was willing to come in for a trial so we invited him down.

"We had nothing to lose. I thought the reaction he showed for the goal (against Forest) was great, he was on his toes ready to react."

City's victory against Forest was the upset of the first round, even allowing for Billy Davies being without five of his first-choice XI due to international duty.

Taylor, whose side came from a goal down at half-time, said: "We did say at half-time that you work hard in pre-season and you don't want to lose two out of two.

"That is not a great start because then, all of a sudden, the confidence dips.

"We had been disappointing in the first half.

"We probably knew how good Forest can be and some of the players looked like they felt they shouldn't be on the same pitch as them.

"But second half we treated it more like a decent cup tie."

Taylor reserved special praise for Jake Speight, the striker who was sent to jail during the summer for assault just a few days after joining City from Mansfield Town.

The City manager said: "Jake does things that you cannot always predict. But once he gets the ball to feet and his backside into defenders, he is a real handful."