Andrew Davies will make his first appearance of pre-season against Bohemians this Saturday after Bantams boss Phil Parkinson confirmed that the influential defender would start in City's friendly with the Airtricity Premier Division side.
Davies has sat out the Bantams' two previous friendlies this summer due to a nerve problem in the defender's back that has been causing his calf to go into spasm.
The 28 year-old has, however, trained with the rest of Parkinson's squad for the last couple of days while at their temporary Irish base and he will now line up alongside Michael Nelson in central defence against Bohemians.
Fellow defender Luke Oliver is also making progress on the training pitch during City's time in Ireland but Saturday's match will come to soon for the giant centre half.
Parkinson revealed: "Andrew will start tomorrow (Saturday). He has been training this week and training well. With that in mind, we feel he is ready to play.
"With Big Olly (Luke Oliver), I have been really pleased with him. He has had a really good week. It is too soon for him to start this weekend though - he needs at least another week's training with the lads before we can think about starting him in a game.
"He has had a few aches and pains, as you would expect for someone who has been out for so long like he has, but Olly is tough and it will take a lot to stop him getting back out there."
Along with the returning Davies, young duo Jack Stockdill and Louie Swain will also start at Bohemians' Dalymount Park.
Stockdill (pictured) is a second year apprentice who has travelled with City to Ireland and will begin the game at right back. First year pro Swain, who has helped out the team already this pre-season by playing at left back and left wing, will play in his natural striking role on Saturday.
Parkinson added: "We are going to give Jack Stockdill and Louie Swain a start tomorrow. They are two youngsters who have been here on our trip to Ireland with us.
"It is a good opportunity for those two. They have worked hard this week and this will be a little reward for them. It is also good for myself and the staff to see them in that sort of company."
After giving his starters roughly sixty minutes against Athlone Town on Tuesday, Parkinson says he is planning to do similar against Bohemians.
The majority of those who began the Athlone game from the bench will now play from the start at the weekend, athough Parkinson has admitted he might have to make a couple of changes to his original plans due to a few minor niggles within the squad.
Parkinson continued: "The lads who didn't start on Tuesday will do so on Saturday to try and make sure most within the squad have got the same amount of minutes under their belt during this trip.
"We do have a few knocks within the squad, however. They are nothing major but a few of the lads might be rested as a result.
"We came here (Ireland) with the plan of giving pretty much everyone at least sixty minutes from the start during one of our two games. That is still what we want to try and achieve but there might be a few exceptions because of the few knocks we have within the squad.
"In the main though, we still want to go into Saturday's game largely with our same plan in place."