Abo Eisa and Liam Ridehalgh in contention for Bradford’s trip to Port Vale

Posted Friday, November 12, 2021 by PA

Bradford will be boosted by the return of Abo Eisa and Liam Ridehalgh for their Sky Bet League Two clash at Port Vale on Saturday.

Winger Eisa has yet to play a league game this season due to a hamstring injury but City manager Derek Adams has confirmed that both he and defender Ridehalgh, who has missed the last five games with a similar problem, are fit and pushing to be included in his 18-man squad.

Adams will also have the services of Paudie O’Connor, while Caolan Lavery has a chance of making the 18-man squad, leaving Andy Cook as the only player definitely ruled out as he awaits the result of a scan on his hamstring injury.

Adams must also make a decision about striker Lee Angol, who continued his recovery from a hamstring injury with a 45-minute outing in the penalty shoot-out win at Sunderland in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.

Veteran centre-back Leon Legge is pushing for a place in the Port Vale squad after making his comeback from a 10-week absence with a knee injury.

The 36-year-old went on as a 63rd-minute substitute in Vale’s 5-0 win at home to Liverpool Under-21s in Tuesday’s EFL Trophy group game.

The former captain is competing with Nathan Smith, Dan Jones, Lewis Cass, Aaron Martin and Ryan Johnson for a place in the back three but may have to be patient after Darrell Clarke’s team have won 10 of their last 12 games.

Clarke has been nominated for the October manager-of-the-month award after lifting his team to second place in the league as well guiding them through to the second round of the FA Cup and knockout stages of the Trophy.