MARK Hughes has stressed the importance of the Papa Johns Trophy as he demands the right reaction from City at Salford tonight.

The Bantams return to the Peninsula Stadium for the second time in 38 days as the competition enters the knock-out stages.

Hughes made it clear from the start how serious his side are taking the Trophy - and the need for a money-spinning run has increased after their early exit from the FA Cup.

A £20,000 prize awaits the winner of the second-round tie at a ground where City triumphed impressively in the league last month.

That money doubles at the next stage and reaches £50,000 from the quarter-finals.

Hughes is also after a strong response following the weekend’s huge disappointment against Northampton.

He said: “The Papa Johns trophy is a competition we want to do well in. We want to go as far as we can.

“We’ve got a difficult game once again but we’ve got to bounce back quickly.

"We did do after the Harrogate game and had two great results and performances. We need to start again.

“We don’t want any kind of negativity to spill over from the last game.

“I’ll be looking to make sure we are right in terms of our attitude with regards of what we need to do.”

Hughes made plenty of changes during the group stages to give the squad more game-time.

But with an 11-day break afterwards before they resume league action at leaders Leyton Orient, he is likely to stick closely to his first-choice line-up.

“We will go strong,” he added. “We need to go through to the next round and that’s what we will look to do.”

Lee Angol should be fit to return after sitting out Saturday’s defeat but City remain without Romoney Crichlow, who was badly missed.

Hughes may consider a recall for Timi Odusina in a defence that really struggled against the Cobblers.

“Hopefully we’ll get Rom back sooner rather than later but it’s a muscle strain, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

"Lee was ill overnight with sickness, so he was not available for selection at the weekend but I’d imagine he would be okay.”

Tyreik Wright is set to take over from Abo Eisa, although Hughes was pleased with how the injury-jinxed winger came through his first Valley Parade start.

"I thought Abo did okay,” he said. “He was a threat and positive whenever he got in wider areas.

“He dropped the shoulder and came inside and got shots off three or four times. He will get there and get stronger.”

Salford, 2020 winners of the Trophy, have not won at home since August and are coming off a 4-1 beating from Carlisle. Boss Neil Wood has hinted that he is likely to mix things up.

The game kicks off at 7.30pm and will go straight to penalties if level after 90 minutes.