FL2 15 Macclesfield Town (A)

The Moss Rose is this afternoon's venue as Bradford City look to move from chasing pack into promotion contenders. Currently we lie four points off the playoffs in 13th place (after Accrington Stanley overtook us with last night's point, though it would have been three had it notbeen for a 95th minute equaliser from Barry Conlon).

By the close of play that could be down to a single point if results go our way.

The Silkmen find themselves in 16th after a mixed start to the season. 4 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats have seen them amass 17 points to our 20.

Last week they saw a 2-0 lead and numerical advantage turn into parity in red cards and goals scored against Dagenham & Redbridge courtesy of a 93rd minute penalty.

At home the Silkmen have taken 8 points from a possible 21 (not too dissimilar from our 11) meaning that their home form has been weaker than their performances on their travels.

Last season the Bantams returned from Cheshire with three points courtesy of a quick fire double from Peter Thorne. Thus far the man who has shouldered so much hope in the past has been a frustrated onlooker as Stuart McCall's new breed has stepped up to the challenge.

Time to start a new unbeaten run lads...

Bradford City's Twitterati give their predictions for this afternoon's fixture:

@p1tsy: Optimist in me says we'll go get a 2-0 win. Realist says 2 b happy with a point. Never happy with a point in div 4

@thedrbob: I'm going 2-1 to city, evans and hanson #mtvbc #bcafc

@TheRealAdam_Ash: #mtvbc = 0-2 Away Win

If you're not on Twitter but are keen to keep abreast of our chatter then use the Vital Bradford Twitter Feed which pulls together any comments made under the umbrella of #mtvbc (Macclesfield Town versus Bradford City)

Keith Alexander will be happy to know that John Rooney, Lee Bell and Hamza Bencherif will all be available after shaking off knocks.

However, after his red card last week he will be without Mathew Tipton.

And doubts remain around Nat Brown, Ricky Sappleton and Paul Bolland.

Sappleton has been in good form having scored in his last two outings for the Silkmen. The youngster is perhaps seen as Gareth Evans' replacement around Macclesfield and has notched 4 goals in his 9 appearances so far.

Stuart McCall's plans were dealt a blow by Lee Bullock's stupid yellow cards last week (the first Lee's fault, the second Colin Webster's) meaning that his holding midfielder is ruled out.

That means that in front of an unchanged defence of Simon Eastwood, Luke O'Brien, Zesh Rehman, Steve Williams and Jon Bateson the anchor man rolemight be given to the returning Simon Ramsden.

That is if Stuart decides to maintain his 3 in the middle. Michael Flynn is a given to start and will likely be paired with James O'Brien. However, Stuart will be weighing up whether to go with the flair of Scott Neilson and Chris Brandon in an attacking midfield.

Are they luxuries that can be afforded when playing away from home?

Up front James Hanson will provide the aerial prowess and Gareth Evans the insider knowledge meaning that Michael Boulding's illness of two weeks ago sees him on the bench.

Alongside him will be the experienced heads of Peter Thorne and Matt Clarke but the youth of Luke Sharry, Leon Osborne, Louis Horne and Jon McLaughlin.

Gareth Evans gave Macclesfield a good two years scoring 20 goals for the Silkmen before the lure of 5 figure crowds brought him from West to East of the Pennines.

The chances are he's going to get a warm response from some and a negative response from others. It will be interesting to see what he does should he score against his former employers. My prediction is for muted celebration rather than unpleasant crowing.

Two years ago the Bantams won at Macclesfield (David Brown's goal the difference) and drew at home.

Last year it was 6 points from 6 as the Bantams made Macclesfield one of their 4 double victims.

Rob Shoebridge takes charge

I think it's time our players upset their former employers, we always concede from old boys. I predict a Bradford City win with Gareth Evans instrumental built on the foundations of a second consecutive clean sheet

The magic of the FA Cup sees us travel to Nottingham for our third fixture of the season.

So far it's honours even with a victory apiece.