CITY are hoping that positive news on Reece Burke’s injury could keep him at Valley Parade.

It was feared that the defender had broken his wrist when he crashed into an advertising hoarding during the costly 3-0 defeat at Gillingham on Saturday and was facing a lengthy spell out.

But after being checked locally in Kent, parent club West Ham had Burke transferred to the private Princess Grace Hospital in central London where it was confirmed that he had suffered a deep cut.

Depending on the seriousness of his injury, that might allow the youngster to continue his youth loan with the Bantams after it ran out over the weekend.

Before the injury, the Hammers had indicated they would be okay with extending it for another month.

That would come as a timely lift for City and Phil Parkinson after a second chastening loss in a week, which also saw Burke’s replacement Nathan Clarke sent off.

Talks are continuing with Preston over Kyel Reid, whose loan is also up, and a new deal is expected to be agreed but Wolves have asked to recall Lee Evans.

With Jordan Bowery’s departure last week, City are likely to revisit the loan targets they had lined up in case any of their current ones went back.

Joint-chairman Mark Lawn revealed that potential short-term replacements had already been identified as a back-up plan.

The Priestfield loss, which saw City drop to mid-table, exposed problems at both ends of the pitch – and left Parkinson seriously contemplating a shake-up.

Parkinson said: “We do need to re-evaluate things now. We’ve got half a season left and a lot of football still to play.

“I feel we’ve got ourselves in the mix with this team and I’ve now got to decide whether we’ve got to change it round. I can’t expect to say anything else after getting beaten like that.”

After the recent spell of clean sheets, City let in three for the second game running to leave Parkinson scratching his head at the sudden change.

“Look at the run we’ve had of late and how difficult we have been to beat,” he added.

“We’ve shown resilience in everything we’ve done; commitment, stopping crosses, blocking shots. But we haven’t done that in the last two games.

“We’ve got to get that back on the training pitch. There is going to be a lot of soul searching this week.

“There’s got to be something wrong for a team to concede two goals in eight games and then let in six in two.

“They were probably the two hardest in that run but equally there’s been too much of a soft centre. I need to find the reasons why.”

The City chief also pointed the finger at his team’s attacking shortcomings after they fluffed several decent scoring opportunities.

Parkinson, who had recalled Devante Cole, said: “We had loads of chances and didn’t hit the target enough. Wide players have got to produce chances and strikers have got to make the keeper work when they get in – and we didn’t do that.

“When you analyse it, Bradley Dack has had one chance and it’s in the back of the net. We need big moments from our key players on the pitch.”

Centre half Clarke will be banned for the FA Cup third-round tie at Bury on Saturday.