Lee Makel homed in on a permanent deal with Bradford City by opening their pre-season with a stunning strike.

The midfielder, currently on trial with the Bantams, has had contract talks with boss Jim Jefferies and strengthened his claims with a long-range goal to put them on the way to a 2-0 win at Glentoran last night.

Makel, whose 49th-minute effort was followed by a second goal from Ashley Ward, said: "I'm enjoying my time here and I've already discussed a few things with the manager. Hopefully something will happen now.

"It's good to get on the scoresheet - I don't get that many but when I do they tend to be a bit special.

"The first game is always the hardest but we've done a lot of hard running and started stepping up the short stuff in the last few days. The gaffer and Billy Brown always tell us to get the ball down and pass, that's my kind of game and the boys want to play that way as well.

"It was a good work-out for all of us, we looked full of goals and now everybody is really looking forward to carrying that on in the next game tomorrow."

David Wetherall is hoping to play some part in the match against Bangor, the weakest of the three teams City are facing in Northern Ireland.

He said: "The specialist advised me not to play in the first game but I think I might be involved at Bangor, possibly coming on for the second half.

"I've had a couple of really tough sessions and I'm not feeling the groin at all so things are looking up. It's been a long time coming but it looks as if I'll be out there playing again."

Jefferies used 16 players at the Oval and was delighted with their response against an enthusiastic Glentoran.

"We knew they would compete for everything but our attitude was very professional and exactly what I was looking for.

"We took a while to get going, which we knew would happen because it was the first game, but once we stepped up I felt we controlled it.

"Lee scored a terrific goal and after that we created a lot of chances and it could have been four or five.

It's clear we have got better players than a team like Glentoran but I didn't want us to think it would be easy and not approach the game in the right manner.

"Mistakes will be made but we're here to win and everybody did their job.

"And there were some terrific moves. Lee passed the ball about well and I thought Gary Locke had a tremendous game and was involved in everything.

"Now we've got a target of winning our next two matches and coming through the tour with three victories. Winning becomes a habit and will lift everybody as we get nearer to the season."