London, Oct 22 (IANS/CMC): Bradford City manager Phil Parkinson says he will not risk rushing injured Bermudian striker Nahki Wells back into action despite the English League Two club firing a second successive blank at the weekend in his absence.

Leading scorer Wells, 23, who helped the Bantams gain promotion from League Two last season with 26 goals, has already netted nine goals from 10 appearances this term but has been sidelined since suffering a nasty ankle injury against Shrewsbury at the end of last month.

Wells travelled with the squad to Crawley at the weekend -- a game Bradford lost 0-1 -- and is unlikely to be involved in a league match at Preston Tuesday night.

"Nahki is looking better and running a bit more freely. But he hasn’t trained. We took him with us (to Crawley) to get two days' work with him. He was never going to be available. We’ve got to make sure that when he’s back, he’s ready. It’s a long season and we’re fifth in the table - it’s a good position. We’ve had a bit of disruption with injuries but we’ve got to come through the other side," Parkinson said.

Wells earlier set himself a personal target of 30 goals this season but the ankle injury has almost certainly dashed those hopes.