WILL Atkinson is the forgotten man among Bradford City’s "history makers", according to Rory McArdle.

During that marathon double Wembley season of 2012-2013, the unassuming midfielder featured in 57 of the 64 games.

He started the same amount of times in the league as Garry Thompson - and more than Kyel Reid. Yet his name does not trip off the tongue like those around him.

McArdle said: “I bet if you asked fans to name that starting XI, Will’s name won’t be there – even though he played over 50 games that season.

“But that was Will. He worked hard, did his job and stayed under the radar.

“It’s probably the same with him at Southend now. He’s playing week in, week out and a few of their fans might not notice that he is.

“But knowing Will, I’m sure he won’t mind that anyway.”

Atkinson makes his first return to Valley Parade tonight since leaving two and a half years ago. His final City outing was as a late Wembley substitute in the play-off final as the promotions celebrations began.

He was back at the national stadium last season to help the Shrimpers sneak past Wycombe on a penalty shoot-out and clinch his second play-off medal.

McArdle added: “Credit to Will, he went to Southend and has done well there.

“He was great for us and I got on with him really well. It’s important that everyone gets on, on and off the pitch, and Will was great like that.

“He always came in every morning with a smile on his face.

“I remember the Arsenal game when he was unbelievable, doing tricks and ‘Cruyff’ turns all over the place. The rest of us were thinking ‘what’s going on here?’

“But that’s Will. A down-to-earth, great guy and shows what he is all about on the pitch.”

City are three points behind Phil Brown’s Southend with a game in hand. Having thrashed Peterborough at the weekend, they now have the chance to pick off another scalp above them.

Saturday’s crushing victory at London Road was only the second time in 15 attempts that the Bantams have beaten a team in the top half.

“It’s a case of fine lines but that’s the league this year,” said McArdle, who played his part in the first away clean sheet since before Christmas.

“It’s important we keep going. You’re obviously never going to catch teams up if we don’t keep taking points off them.

“The chances have been there. Whether it was a case of not starting games right or getting a bit of stage fright, I don’t know.

“Nobody can put their finger on it but we’ve shown in patches that we can compete against the higher teams. We’ve just got to learn to do it for longer in games.

“We’re at the business end of the season now and mini-leagues are appearing. It’s important we try to keep rectifying that as soon as possible.

“Everyone’s in the same situation. We all need the points and it doesn’t matter how they come.

“A win’s a win at this stage of the season and you move on to the next one.”