MARK Hughes insists City will not take strugglers Gillingham lightly as they eye a much-needed return to winning ways this weekend.

The Kent side have scored just six goals in League Two this season to sit only two points off the bottom.

The Bantams will be hot favourites to notch a seventh victory on the road against a team fighting to avoid successive relegations.

But Hughes stressed there will be no complacency in the ranks after the back-to-back losses against Leyton Orient and Northampton.

“There’s a danger of that but we certainly don’t think that way,” he said.

“Every game we play is difficult because of who we are and the reaction that teams have with their own performance when they come up against us.

“We recognise that and never take anything for granted.

“We’ll approach it in exactly the right manner. We’ll make sure we have all the information we need about them and endeavour to get a better result on the board than we were able to in the last two games.”

Romoney Crichlow has been a key absentee in those and there is an outside chance he may feature at the Priestfield Stadium. Hughes will not take any chances with the Huddersfield loanee.

“Rom is doing okay, he’s been out on the field and he looks good.

“We’re a bit mindful that it’s a calf injury and those historically can be a little bit tricky if you don’t manage them correctly initially.

“Hopefully he might be an option at the weekend, if not certainly the week after.

“The lads at the back had got into a nice rhythm and understanding in terms of playing together week in, week out.

“When you lose one of the elements of that, there is an adjustment and that can have an impact.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we don’t allow that to be a significant issue for us.

“I don’t feel it is. I thought both Yann (Songo’o) and Timi (Odusina) did well in the games themselves individually, it’s just collectively we need to be a little bit better.”

Gillingham have failed to score in their last six league outings - their longest barren run since 1961.

They are hoping to restore some confidence in tonight’s FA Cup second-round replay at home to Dagenham. But it has been a wretched campaign for Neil Harris' men since dropping out of League One.

Hughes added: “I’m a little bit surprised. They’ve probably disappointed themselves as well but there’s a full half season to go and they’ll be looking to have a better second half.

“We’ve got to be mindful of that.

“There are other teams in the league that look like they are having a disappointing season on paper but still have the capacity to cause you problems.

“You’ve got to treat everybody with respect in terms of what they can do. We’ll certainly do that at the weekend.”

Jamie Walker is getting closer to his first start since the opening day of the season. He came off the bench for another half hour in City’s 3-0 loss at the leaders.

Hughes said: “He needs that, although we found it difficult to really have any momentum where he’s in the right areas of the pitch to affect the opposition.

“But he’s getting up to speed and I think he will be where he needs to be very quickly.”