Mark Hughes on Bradford City's clash with Carlisle United

Tomorrow sees Hughes’ seventh-placed Bantams host Paul Simpson’s fourth-placed Blues less than a month after their previous meeting.

United got the better of the Yorkshire side 1-0 on Boxing Day, and currently sit two points ahead of this weekend’s rivals.

Hughes says their below-par festive showing in Cumbria prompted him to make changes to his side.

And he hopes they will bear fruit at Valley Parade in Saturday’s rematch.

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“We’re looking forward to it. We underperformed up in Carlisle,” said Hughes.

“We saw a team that were difficult to play against and once they got the lead, we found them very hard to break down.

“We had plenty of possession but didn’t really create any clear-cut chances.

“Maybe that was a little bit of a catalyst for us to change and go in a different way to see if that would benefit us at the top end of the pitch – and it has to a point.

“We need that flexibility depending on who we’re playing. Different teams, different formations will cause us different problems and we’ve got to have the solutions.

“They are obviously one of our closest rivals so it’s another opportunity to help ourselves and hinder them.”

Hughes, after a summer of heavy recruitment, has been busy in the transfer market again this month.

On Thursday he made Doncaster Rovers’ former Carlisle loan star Adam Clayton his latest signing.

Adam Clayton (Image: Barbara Abbott)

The experienced midfielder joined Matt Derbyshire, Tolaji Bola, Thierry Nevers, Ciaran Kelly and Dara Costelloe through the door at Valley Parade in the January window.

In the same period, the Bantams lost loan star Tyreik Wright as well as parting company with Fiacre Kelleher and Lee Angol, as well as loaning out Matty Foulds and Jake Young.

Hughes has insisted that ex-Carlisle striker Andy Cook, who has not started since the Brunton Park game, will not be joining those heading out of the club.

Cook had been the subject of speculation but Hughes, speaking at his pre-match press conference said: "Andy Cook is not going anywhere.

“People question some moves and what I do in the transfer market. But even I wouldn’t transfer-list my top scorer.”

Hughes will be without suspended forward Jamie Walker – a scorer in the Valley Parade clash with the Blues last season – after his red card in last weekend’s 0-0 draw at AFC Wimbledon.

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Midfielder Clayton, though, is keen to be involved against a club that gave him his Football League debut.

He was on loan from Hughes’ Manchester City in the 2009/10 season at Brunton Park, a campaign which saw Clayton involved in United’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy run to the final.

"The Wembley trip was the highlight, a really good day,” Clayton told the Telegraph & Argus.

“We got beaten 4-1 in the end but it was by a Southampton team that I think won League One and the Championship in consecutive seasons after – [Adam] Lallana, [Rickie] Lambert etc.

"But it was the gaffer [Hughes] who sent me out to get some first-team experience in League One and it was really good.

"The football means a lot up there [at Carlisle] and they know what they want. I had a really, really good time up there.”