By James Smith
This weekend sees promotion contenders Bradford City visit Gigg Lane to play a Bury side who have won just twice all season.
Bradford come off the back of an impressive 4-1 win away at MK Dons and are looking to extend their winning run to three games. Mwanwhile, Bury are ending a two-week absence from league football having had no game due to the recent internationals.
The Bantams sit in third place with eight wins from 12 games, while Bury hover dangerously above the drop zone on nine points from 11 matches.
The last meeting between the two sides ended in a 2-0 win for Bradford City, courtesy of goals from Mark Marshall and Charlie Wyke.
The away side will be missing Tony McMahon after Stuart McCall confirmed the right-back suffered a small tear to his hamstring which will see him miss two to four weeks.
McCall was optimistic when commenting on the injury, saying: “We’ll see how he goes in the next couple of weeks but I’m sure Tony will be keen to get back as soon as possible.”
Nathanial Knight-Percival and Matthew Kilgallon look set to continue their partnership fresh from signing new deals, however Adam Thompson is ineligible due to the agreement of his loan.
The game could see a return from injury for midfielder Timothee Dieng who continues his rehabilitation while Shay McCartan is expected to make a return to training on Tuesday.
Greg Leigh is in line to face his former club, having missed only 61 minutes all season, additionally The Shakers have no injury worries.
City are the second-highest goal scorers in the division with 22 goals, almost double that of their opponents with 12, of those 12 Jermaine Beckford has the highest amount with half of them.
Bury average less than a goal per game this season, while Bradford average 2.3 goals every game, Bury have also scored just four times in their last 10 meetings with the West Yorkshire club.
Out-of favour Andrew Tutte made his return to the first-team with a substitute appearance in last week’s Checkatrade Trophy win over Blackburn and is fit for selection for Lee Clark’s side
The 77 meetings between the sides have yielded 23 Bury wins, 28 Bradford wins and a further 26 draws.