Bristol City team news ahead of Plymouth Argyle as Liam Manning sheds light on Sam Bell return

Liam Manning has admitted Sam Bell isn't "far away" from making a return to first-team action ahead of Bristol City's showdown with Plymouth Argyle at Ashton Gate.

The Robins welcome Wayne Rooney's Pilgrims to BS3 on Saturday afternoon as they look to get back to winning ways in the Championship having lost their last two games following the November international break.

Argyle are yet to win away from Home Park so far this season and come into the weekend's game off of the back of a heavy 6-1 defeat to Norwich City at Carrow Road last time out.

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While it is unclear whether or not Bell will be ready to make an appearance in the matchday squad against Rooney's side, Manning did admit the Robins' academy graduate is closing in on a return having featured for the under-21s on Monday.

"[He's] not far away," admitted the City boss in his pre-match press conference. "I don't want to jinx things in terms of how he's looked. He obviously got some minutes the other night which was good for him and he's been training for a period of time now.

"It's a case of we don't want to rush things. It would be great to have him back but we want to make sure that when we get him back we keep him back."

Manning's options have been slightly limited in recent weeks with the likes of Joe Williams and George Tanner sidelined with more long-term injuries while, Ross McCrorie, Kal Naismith and Mark Sykes have been dealing with more short-term issues.

Although it appears as though Saturday's game has come around too early for the latter trio, the Reds head coach insists they are also not too far away from returning to the fold.

"Those two [Kal Naismith and Ross McCrorie] and Mark Sykes are out on the grass at the minute so they're not a million miles away," Manning explained. "But again we have to see how they respond to certain different activities that they do and different challenges in their rehab.

"We're expecting them back in team training fairly soon."

There was a surprise inclusion in the under-21s squad on Monday evening as Josh Stokes was named among the substitutes and even managed to get on the scoresheet as the Young Robins played out a 2-2 draw with Norwich City.

The 20-year-old is spending the season on loan with League One side Cambridge United but hasn't made an appearance for Garry Monk's side since September when he picked up an injury against Mansfield.

Although Manning admitted he was impressed with the attacking midfielder's display at the High Performance Centre, he confirmed Stokes had now returned to Cambridge as he also closes in on a first-team return.

"He's back with them now," explained the City manager. "It was a discussion that Brian [Tinnion] had with Ben Strang the technical director there and it was a case of he'd been training with them fully, can we get him some match minutes?

"There are different programmes at different clubs with the categories of what U21 football looks like so I think in terms of it, it was a good opportunity to get him some match minutes. I have to say, I thought he was excellent in the second half, he did some high-level moments in the game and he's now back with them."

The U's face Wigan Athletic in the second round of the FA Cup on Saturday at the Cledara Abbey Stadium so it will be interesting to see whether not Monk deems the Bristol City loanee fit enough to make his first senior appearance in over two months.

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