Nigel Pearson will make another late call on Matty James' involvement for Bristol City's trip to Luton Town but concedes he won't risk the midfielder if there's any chance he could aggravate his ankle injury.
The 31-year-old picked up the problem in the 0-0 draw against Huddersfield Town last week following a robust challenge from Matty Pearson. James played the full 90 minutes but was forced to miss the 2-0 victory over Blackpool at the weekend as Andy King earned a consecutive start in midfield.
Wednesday's visit to Luton, who occupy fourth spot, will prove a tougher test than the one posed by relegation strugglers Blackpool, and given City's lengthy injury list, Pearson remains hopeful he'll have his stalwart back in the starting XI at Kenilworth Road.
Speaking after Saturday's game, the City manager said: "Again, we'll just have to see what the next couple of days bring. Hopefully, yes (he'll be back) but to be able to win without him was also important for us.
"I want him to be fit for the rest of the season. I don't want to put him at risk for one game and then lose him for a number of games."
City currently have seven senior players sidelined: Ayman Benarous and Rob Atkinson are long-term absentees with ACL injuries while Tomas Kalas (knee), Kal Naismith (calf), Tommy Conway (hamstring) and Joe Williams (hamstring) are all unavailable with the latter ruled out for the rest of the season.
Pearson opted for Alex Scott alongside King in a deeper midfield role with Andi Weimann playing in the No10 position while providing support for Nahki Wells as the main striker with City in possession. The lack of options also handed an opportunity for academy prospect Omar Taylor-Clarke to make his league debut, replacing veteran King in the final 10 minutes of the contest.
Referring to his defiant stance on Han-Noah Massengo's loan exit when asked whether the Frenchman could have played a part given the current injury predicament, Pearson added: "There's been a lot of talk about players who are not here now who left in January.
"I think what's important today (Saturday) is you get someone like Omar Taylor-Clarke on who's been looking for his opportunity to make his debut.
"I thought when he went on, it was just a cameo performance but it's important not to block the development of our youngsters coming through so that's also a good aspect of today that he was able to make his league debut.
"When you have players missing you always want the whole squad to be available. It's also interesting to see how younger players deal with opportunities when they come along.
"I thought Andy King was really good again. He's played back-to back games and has been very good in both of them. I think that's testament to his understanding to negotiate some tough games so it's been all-in-all, obviously, it's a good day today and it would have been nice to win in midweek but I think the performances have been good."
City will welcome the upcoming international break on March 20 as an opportunity to get players back into contention. Both Naismith and Conway are likely to return from the two-week absence to take on Reading at home on April 1.
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