MARK Hughes is happy to hear City making a big noise about tomorrow’s top-four showdown with Northampton.

The Valley Parade crowd is expected to top 18,000 for a game that would see the Bantams move into the automatic promotion places with a win.

Hughes revealed the dressing room has been cranking up the volume in the build-up.

“It’s an illustration of excitement,” he said. “The bigger the game, the better and everybody’s in a good place.

“The squad is coming together and we’re getting decent enough results. We haven’t played at home for a while so let’s get back on track and get some wins under our belt.”

Hughes welcomes back fit-again Tyreik Wright and Matty Platt, who returns from his one-game ban that saw Yann Songo’o feature in the win at Sutton.

The City boss felt Songo’o’s performance in the away clean sheet - his first league start of the season - epitomised the strong team ethic currently running through the squad.

“Everybody is part of what we want to do and want to achieve what we set out for at the start of the season. We’re very much on track with that.

“There’s a lot of mickey-taking and leg-pulling as you would imagine but that’s illustrative of a group that enjoys each other’s company but also respects each and every one’s ability.

“I still get bangs on my door but they are not as prevalent at the moment as you’d imagine if we were maybe struggling a bit.

“Everyone wants to play and wants an explanation if they’re not. The onus is on me to explain my thinking and I’ve had to do that on a number of occasions.

“But I like to think I allow them to understand that everyone’s going to play a part.

“A player not in the team at the moment will be disappointed. But the reality is that I can’t make too many changes because the team’s doing okay.

“Players have to be ready. It does them or myself no favours if they are downcast and downbeat and sapping energy from the group.

“They’ve still got to be a positive influence and encourage the ones who at the moment are in possession of the shirt that they want.

“It’s human nature to be disappointed but it’s how you react. The group’s been really good in that regard - they all feel part of what we’re doing.”

Jamie Walker won’t be rushed back into the mix after playing 45 minutes in a weather-shortened game behind closed doors on Tuesday.

But Hughes does not believe it will be long before the Scot is ready to feature again after coming through that unscathed.

“We’re going to build him up,” he added. “Jamie looked very good and was flying into tackles.

“We braced ourselves a couple of times when he went in for a few challenges but that shows he’s got confidence in where his injury is. He clearly doesn’t feel that he’s now injured which is the positive out of it.

“He’s going to be available very soon. He probably needs a little bit more time but is a player that will have an impact for us.

“All the guys watched Jamie in pre-season and those who didn’t know his ability were very quickly aware of it once they started training with him.

“Then we lost almost immediately so a lot of the guys haven’t played a lot of game time with him.

“It will take a bit of time for him to come back and have the impact he knows he can. But we’re all delighted he’s ready to go.”