Look who's on the brink of a Rotherham United comeback!

Wing-back Denzel Hall will also join the striker in the matchday 18 after fears that the summer signing had suffered a serious injury proved to be unfounded.

Nombe, who last played on Boxing Day, is the League One Millers' top scorer with six goals even though he has endured three absences with hamstring and quad trouble this season and has been restricted to just 10 outings.

The 27-year-old was desperate to feature in the last two matches but has been held back as the club don't want to see him head to the treatment room for a fourth time.

“I'm hopeful,” said manager Matt Hamshaw when asked about the record signing's potential involvement against the Bantams this weekend.

“I've said all along that we could take a risk with ‘Noms’. We could have probably taken a risk if the Mansfield game (postponed on January 4) had been on. But we have to calculate that risk because we've still got a lot of the season left.”

The boss can't wait to welcome back the attacker as he battles against an injury crisis that has been a big factor in a run of six straight defeats.

“We aren't a club who can afford to lose our best players,” said the former Rotherham coach. “Going back a few years, if Michael Smith got injured, it was a massive miss. We couldn't replace Michael Smith.

“Sam Nombe, at this moment, we can't replace him. I wish we could. I wish we had somebody who could come in for him but we don't. That doesn't mean the lads who do play aren't trying the damned hardest to get a result.

“We're missing a lot of players - a lot of key players. A lot of people will say: ‘Here he goes again making excuses.’ They're not excuses, just facts.”

Meanwhile, Hall had to go off late on in the New Year's Day clash with Peterborough United but, happily, his calf issue has turned out to be nothing of real note.

“Yeah, he's fine,” Hamshaw said. “He's trained, so he's all right.”

Hall is racking up the appearances for the Millers after a gentler life in his native Holland with Eredivisie side Heerenveen.

“I think it's just a build-up of constant games,” said Hamshaw about the calf complaint . “Sometimes you don't appreciate how tough it is for lads to come from another country and deal with the intensity in the English game and the amount of matches.

“Denzel's not been used to playing as many games as he has since he joined us. I think he played 18 games in the season before this one.

“He's come into a programme now that is full-on. I think that at odd times he's finding it difficult, but he's been amazing, and he needs to keep being amazing.”