Liam Manning has confirmed that Rob Dickie is a doubt for Bristol City's FA Cup clash with Wolves this weekend, with the defender suffering from illness following the Reds' win over Derby County.
The Robins welcome Vitor Pereira's side to Ashton Gate on Saturday lunchtime as they look to build on their four-game unbeaten run over the festive period against Premier League opposition.
Wolves currently sit 17th in the top flight and are level on points with Ipswich Town who occupy the final place in the relegation zone but the Black Country side have impressed since Pereira arrived at Molineux in December.
Following City's 1-0 win over Derby last weekend, Manning did admit that Dickie was "spent" before the game had even kicked off as a result of the hectic Championship schedule. Although the former QPR defender managed to complete the 90 minutes against Paul Warne's side, it isn't yet clear whether or not he will have recovered from his illness in time to feature on Saturday.
"Very much so," Manning replied when asked if Dickie was a doubt for this weekend's game. "Rob's been ill. Rob's been in bed since [the Derby game]. He got out yesterday so again it's a huge credit to him.
"He was ill before the game and I was texting him on Monday and he was ill, quite ill. The doctor has been around to see him. It speaks volumes about him and what people are willing to do for the team, I think that's the biggest bit we want here.
"When you look at it everybody has played, everybody has had an opportunity, people have naturally played different minutes to each other, but they've all played. When anybody steps on, they need to be ready to go and that will be the same with the period we've got coming up."
Should Dickie be unavailable this weekend, Manning's options at centre-half are rather limited. While George Tanner and Ross McCrorie are both capable of filling in out of position, Rob Atkinson's loan move to Portsmouth has left the Reds short of senior bodies in the middle of defence.
However, the Robins are set to be boosted by the return of Kal Naismith and Mark Sykes. Neither player has featured since City's late defeat to Sheffield United in November, but Manning has revealed both players are now back in first-team training and will be in contention against Wolves.
"Naisy's trained so Naisy comes into contention," explained Manning. "He's obviously someone that we have to ease back in. Naisy's back and Syksey's back.
Bristol City Live on Whatsapp
Join Bristol City Live's Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone
Bristol City Live is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.
Through the app, we’ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.
To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select ‘Join Community’.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live team.
We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.
To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘Exit group’.
If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
"They've both trained this week so far so they're in contention for the weekend."
For the most part, City have managed to avoid any major issues over the festive period. The only real blow suffered in the last two weeks has been the loss of Cam Pring. Although it is unclear when exactly the left-back will be fit to return to the fold, Manning has previously insisted he could be sidelined for weeks.
The only other two first-team absentees are Sinclair Armstrong and Joe Williams. Both players are not ready to return to the matchday squad this weekend, but the Bristol City head coach insists they're getting "close" whilst also providing an update on Josh Campbell-Slowey.
"He's [Armstrong] not far. He's back and he was doing an extremely tough session out there with Joe Williams so those two are both close as well," said Manning. "It was a little calf injury that he [Campbell-Slowey] picked up.
"He played for the under-21s, then trained with us and picked up a little calf injury so he's going to be a little bit of time. We look forward to getting him back."
