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DOYLE EXPECTED BACK FOR SCUNTHORPE GAME

24 March 2017

Club News

DOYLE EXPECTED BACK FOR SCUNTHORPE GAME

24 March 2017

Bantams boss Stuart McCall expects Colin Doyle to be available for Sunday's Sky Bet League One match at Scunthorpe United, despite the giant goalkeeper currently being away with the Republic of Ireland national side.

McCall says that Doyle is scheduled to fly back to England following Ireland's World Cup qualifier with Wales in Dublin on Friday evening. 

The shot-stopper will then be with City on Saturday and match-day on Sunday, before flying back out to regroup with the Ireland squad ahead of their friendly at home to Iceland.

While Doyle looks set to start at Glanford Park this Sunday though, McCall is less confident about the chances of Josh Cullen featuring against the Iron on Sunday lunchtime.

Cullen is likely to start for Ireland's U21s against Kosovo on Saturday afternoon - less than 24 hours before City's game with Scunthorpe.

McCall has revealed that Cullen is still scheduled to meet up with the City squad at their hotel base in the build up to the Scunthorpe encounter, but his participation in the game could depend on how many minutes he gets while on international duty.

The City chief said: "It is a great confidence boost for Colin that he is in the squad, especially when they reduced the numbers down from the provisional 39-man group.

"We expect him to be on the bench on Friday night (vs Wales) and then fly back to join up with us.

"Fortunately for Colin and ourselves, the game is in Dublin, not somewhere several hours away, so he can fly back into Leeds/Bradford and be with the rest of the lads on Saturday to prepare for the Scunthorpe game.

"He will then fly back out to Ireland on Sunday night for their friendly game with Iceland on the Tuesday.

"With Josh, he is due to play on Saturday so we will have monitor his situation - see how he feels after the game, how many minutes he plays etc.

"If he does come through a tough ninety minutes though, I think it would be slightly irresponsible of us to have him involved against Scunthorpe.

"He wants to be a part of the match on Sunday and we want him part of the match, so we are due to fly him in Saturday night to join up with group in our hotel.

"He will be there ready to prepare for the game if needed - we'll just have to see how he goes in the game on Saturday."

On top of the doubt over Cullen going into the Scunthorpe game, City will also need to check on the fitness of fellow midfielder Nicky Law, who has missed the Bantams' last four games with a knee injury.

McCall is quietly confident, however, that Law will be given the green light to make up part of his match-day squad for the journey east.

Speaking about Law, McCall said: "He has been progressing all week.

"Fingers crossed, he will be available in some part, whether that be from the start or off the bench."

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