David Wetherall will play the whole game at Portadown tonight as he takes the next big step on the road to recovery from his groin operation.

The Bradford City centre-half came on for 45 minutes in Saturday's 4-0 stroll at Bangor for his first action since going under the knife in May.

And boss Jim Jefferies believes he is fit enough to face a full match when the Bantams bring down the curtain on their Northern Ireland tour at Shamrock Park. Providing Wetherall comes through unscathed tonight and in City's final friendlies against Blackburn and Huddersfield, he has a chance of featuring in the league match with Barnsley in 12 days' time.

Wetherall said: "I'm just delighted to be fit again and feeling very good. Saturday's game was over by the time I got on but it was just a case of trying to get a half-decent work-out.

"I'm sure in a couple of weeks, whoever's playing will find it a lot harder but I was just glad to be involved again. I don't feel like the odd man out round here."

Jefferies was pleased to see Wetherall safely negotiate Bangor's rock-hard pitch alongside Eoin Jess, who was playing his first game since May after recovering from Achilles trouble.

Jefferies said: "The game was over after 25 minutes when we had the three goals and it went flat after that. But we treated it as a training match and a fitness session for some of the boys who hadn't played before.

"It was good to see David get through a half and his timing was there."