BRADFORD CITY AFC

Bantams boss Phil Parkinson has confirmed that defender Matt Taylor is in contention for a place in his travelling party to Preston North End this Tuesday evening after returning from his loan spell at Colchester United.

After playing the fifth and final game of his one-month loan spell with Colchester at Brentford this Saturday, Taylor joined back up with the rest of his City team-mates for training at Apperley Bridge this Monday.

It is believed that Colchester were keen to keep hold of Taylor's services for longer following the conclusion of his short-term loan deal, but Parkinson now wants to see the 31 year-old push for a first team slot at the Coral Windows Stadium.

Parkinson said: "Matt is back with us and looking refreshed.

"He enjoyed his time at Colchester - he played all of the games there and looked really good.

"We look forward to getting him back in the fold and competing for a place. We brought Matt in to be a leader. He is a good talker, a good communicator and he organises people around him.

"He is definitely a good player to have back in the building."

While Taylor is a possible for the trip to Deepdale, top scorer Nahki Wells is unlikely to be risked for the Sky Bet League 1 fixture despite making progress on the training ground.

Parkinson added: "He has trained again today (Monday), but you have to remember that he has been out of matches for over three weeks now. That is a long time away and we have to make sure we only bring him back when he is ready.

"Of course we miss our top-scorer, any team in the country would do, but we will only get him back on the pitch when he is right."

Wells or no Wells, after back-to-back defeats for City - albeit narrow ones - and a long trip to Crawley Town over the weekend, Parkinson has hinted that changes to his side could be made for the Preston fixture.

Whoever is selected against Simon Grayson's Lilywhites though, Parkinson is looking for more defensive discipline from his side after claiming City were 'too open' at Crawley.

Parkinson said: "We haven't named the team yet.

"Quite often we will do on the day before a game, but there are just a few things we have been looking at in training. It is important that the team is as fresh as possible and we get those decisions right.

"This team is all about the good work-rate and discipline we have shown over the last year or so. I just felt we went away from that slightly on Saturday."